Holly Ridge Associates, LLC v. North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources

EDMUNDS, Justice.

In this case we consider whether an administrative law judge properly allowed the North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association and the North Carolina Coastal Federation to intervene with full rights as parties in a contested case challenge to the State’s imposition of a civil penalty. While the parties characterize this question as a policy issue, it is properly considered as a procedural matter within our statutory framework governing intervention. Because we hold that the intervenors did not meet the requirements of Rule 24 of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure to…