Nebraska v. Wyoming
Headline: Court appoints a Special Master to manage filings, gather evidence, and decide requests to join the case, letting utilities and environmental groups pursue participation while parties will share the Master’s costs.
Holding: The Court appointed Owen Olpin as Special Master with authority to set filing conditions, gather evidence, issue subpoenas, consider intervention motions, and have his expenses charged to the parties as the Court directs.
- A neutral officer will collect evidence and handle intervention requests.
- Parties may be required to pay the Special Master’s fees and related costs.
- Witnesses can be summoned and subpoenas issued by the Special Master.
Summary
Background
The Court appointed Owen Olpin of Los Angeles as a Special Master in this case. Several organizations — including Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Platte River Trust, the National Audubon Society, and Nebraska Public Power District and others — filed motions asking to join the lawsuit, and the Court referred those motions to the Special Master for handling.
Reasoning
The order gives the Special Master broad authority to run parts of the case: he can set times and conditions for filing additional papers, direct later steps in the proceeding, summon witnesses, issue subpoenas, receive and take evidence, and submit reports he finds appropriate. The Court also specified that the Special Master’s compensation, his assistants’ pay, printing costs, travel, and other proper expenses will be charged to the parties in proportions the Court will decide later. The practical result is that a neutral officer will oversee initial evidence gathering and intervention requests instead of the full Court doing those tasks immediately.
Real world impact
People and groups wanting to join or oppose intervention must present their evidence and arguments to the Special Master, who can compel witnesses and documents. The parties involved will ultimately bear the Special Master’s costs in amounts the Court assigns. This order manages how the case proceeds; it is a procedural step and does not resolve the underlying legal dispute on the merits.
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