In this mandamus proceeding, Lumber-mens Mutual Casualty Company seeks relief from a trial court order striking its petition in intervention. Lumbermens is the insurer of Cudd Pressure Control, Inc. In the underlying lawsuit, which is currently on appeal in the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Judicial District, Cudd was found hable for $20.7 million as the indem-nitor of Sonat Exploration Company. Lumbermens posted $29 million in appellate security to secure the judgment pending appeal. After the court of appeals denied Lumbermens’ motion to intervene on appeal, Lumbermens sought mandamus relief in this Court in cause number 04-0245,
In re Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co.,
Lumbermens did not seek mandamus relief from the court of appeals before filing its petition in this Court, as Rule 52.3(e) of the Rules of Appellate Procedure requires “unless there is a compelling reason not to do so.” Lumbermens argues that it was justified in bypassing the court
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of appeals because that court had previously denied it leave to intervene on appeal. In a separate opinion we issue today in
Lumbermens I,
we hold that the court of appeals abused its discretion in denying Lumbermens leave to participate in Cudd’s appeal in order to raise a potentially dis-positive issue that Cudd agreed to drop in exchange for Sonat’s agreement to nonsuit certain uninsured claims Sonat asserted against Cudd in a separate lawsuit.
Lumbermens I,
