Tenneco Inc. v. Saxony Bar & Tube, Inc., Appeal of First Interstate Commercial Corporation

EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge.

First Interstate Commercial Corp. (FICC) tried to intervene in a suit in which it was already a defendant. Instead of gently telling FICC that once is enough, the district court denied the application. FICC immediately appealed, relying on cases characterizing as “final” and appealable denials of intervention as of right. E.g., Sam Fox Publishing Co. v. United States, 366 U.S. 683, 687-88, 81 S.Ct. 1309, 1311-12, 6 L.Ed.2d 604 (1961). The premise of these cases is that the denial of intervention ends the litigation for the would-be intervenor. Because the putative…