Standing (Article 3)

Standing

Standing - Answering whether a plaintiff is entitled to have the court decide the merits of the dispute or of particular issues. (Can the court hear this case?)

You must show all three to have standing:

You must show all three to have standing:

1. Injury in Fact: Plaintiff has suffered or will immediately suffer an injury

• Concrete and palpable

• Not conjectural, hypothetical, or speculative

• Look for ripeness

2. Causation: Injury was caused by defendant’s conduct (fairly traceable)

• Back to torts: proximate cause

3. Redress: Relief sought will eliminate the harm alleged

• Can a court provide any remedy (or the requested remedy)?

• Look for mootness.

Third Party Standing

Rule: A plaintiff cannot gain standing by asserting the rights of another person who is not a party to the lawsuit. 

UNLESS there is:

• A relationship between the plaintiff and rights-holder

• A genuine obstacle to the rights-holder asserting his/her own rights and

• The rights-holder’s rights will be diluted if not asserted by the plaintiff.

All 3 elements are required.

Associational Standing

• An organization may have standing to sue on its own behalf when it sustains an injury as an organization.

• Its members would have others standing to sue in their own right.

• The interests it seeks to protect are germane to the organizations purposes; and

• Neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested requires the participation of individual members in the lawsuit.