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Lopez v. Merit Ins. Co.6/9/1993
allowing Merit to intervene after final judgments had been entered against Leone.
Because Merit was not named as a party to the action, and Merit could not properly intervene, Merit should not have become a party to Eric and Erwin's suit for personal injuries, from which the disputed judgments were obtained. “ proposed intervenor does not become a party to a lawsuit unless and until the district court grants a motion to intervene.” Aetna Life & Casualty v. Rowan, 107 Nev. 362, 363, 812 P.2d 350 (1991); see Moore v. District Court, 77 Nev. 357, 361, 364 P.2d 1073, 1077 (1961). Since the district court's order granting intervention was error, Merit should not be considered a party to this lawsuit.
NRCP 60 allows the district court to relieve “a party” from a final judgment, order, or proceeding upon a showing of “mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.” NRCP 60(b)(1). Since Merit was never properly a party, Merit could not move to set aside Eric and Erwin's judgment pursuant to NRCP 60, and the district court erred in granting Merit's motion to set aside the judgments. See Aetna Life & Casualty v. Rowan, 107 Nev. 362, 363, 812 P.2d 350, 350-51 (1991) (because the right to appeal a judgment is reserved to “parties” under NRAP 3A, a proposed intervenor, who does not become a party until the motion for intervention is granted, cannot appeal a judgment).
[109 Nev. 553, Page 558]
Because we conclude Merit should not have been permitted to become a party to this action, we do not reach Eric and Erwin's other contentions of error, and the question of the binding effect on Merit of the two judgments against Leone must await further proceedings.
Accordingly, we reverse and remand this case to the district court with instructions to vacate its order granting Merit's motions to intervene and to set aside default judgments.
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