Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/107899/friends-earth-inc-vs-environmental-services
Timestamp: 2020-04-07 01:07:21
Document Index: 267038056

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1342', '§ 1365', '§ 2', '§ 1365', '§ 1365', '§ 505', '§ 1365', '§ 1365', '§ 2', '§ 1365', '§ 1988']

Friends of Earth Inc Vs Laidlaw Environmental Services Toc Inc - Citation 107899 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Friends of Earth, Inc. Vs. Laidlaw Environmental Services (Toc), Inc. - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/107899
Case Number 528 U.S. 167
Appellant Friends of Earth, Inc.
Respondent Laidlaw Environmental Services (Toc), Inc.
friends of earth, inc. v. laidlaw environmental services (toc), inc. - 528 u.s. 167 (1999) october term, 1999 syllabus friends of the earth, inc., et al. v. laidlaw environmental services (toc), inc. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the fourth circuit no. 98-822. argued october 12, 1999-decided january 12,2000 defendant-respondent laidlaw environmental services (toc), inc., bought a facility in roebuck, south carolina, that included a wastewater treatment plant. shortly thereafter, the south carolina department of health and environmental control (dhec), acting under the clean water act (act), 33 u. s. c. § 1342(a)(i), granted laidlaw a national pollutant discharge elimination system (npdes) permit. the permit authorized laidlaw to.....
FOE appealed as to the amount of the District Court's civil penalty judgment, but did not appeal the denial of declaratory or injunctive relief. The Fourth Circuit vacated the District Court's order and remanded with instructions to dismiss the action. Assuming, arguendo, that FOE initially had standing, the appellate court held that the case had become moot once Laidlaw complied with the terms of its permit and the plaintiffs failed to appeal the denial of equitable relief. Citing Steel Co. v. Citizens for Better Environment, 523 U. S. 83 , the court reasoned that the only remedy currently available to FOE, civil penalties payable to the Government, would not redress any injury FOE had suffered. The court added that FOE's failure to obtain relief on the merits precluded recovery of attorneys' fees or costs because such an award is available only to a "prevailing or substantially prevailing party" under § 1365(d). According to Laidlaw, the entire Roebuck facility has since been permanently closed, dismantled, and put up for sale, and all discharges from the facility have permanently ceased.
(a) The Constitution's case-or-controversy limitation on federal judicial authority, Art. III, § 2, underpins both standing and mootness doctrine, but the two inquiries differ in crucial respects. Because the Fourth Circuit was persuaded that the case had become moot, it simply assumed that FOE had initial standing. See Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, 520 U. S. 43 , 66-67. But because this Court concludes that the Court of Appeals erred as to mootness, this Court has an obligation to assure itself that FOE had Article III standing at the outset of the litigation. P. 180.
fenders of Wildlife, 504 U. S. 555 , 560-561. An association has standing to bring suit on behalf of its members when its members would have standing to sue in their own right, the interests at stake are germane to the organization's purpose, and neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested requires individual members' participation in the lawsuit. Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Comm'n, 432 U. S. 333 , 343. The relevant showing for Article III standing is not injury to the environment but injury to the plaintiff. To insist on the former rather than the latter is to raise the standing hurdle higher than the necessary showing for success on the merits in a citizen's NPDES permit enforcement suit. Here, injury in fact was adequately documented by the affidavits and testimony of FOE members asserting that Laidlaw's pollutant discharges, and the affiants' reasonable concerns about the effects of those discharges, directly affected those affiants' recreational, aesthetic, and economic interests. See, e. g., Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U. S. 727 , 735. These submissions present dispositively more than the mere "general averments" and "conclusory allegations" found inadequate in Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, 497 U. S. 871 , 888, or the" 'some day' intentions" to visit endangered species halfway around the world held insufficient in Defenders of Wildlife. 504
not deprive a federal court of its power to determine the legality of the practice. City of Mesquite v. Aladdin's Castle, Inc., 455 U. S. 283 , 289. If it did, courts would be compelled to leave the defendant free to return to its old ways. Thus, the standard for determining whether a case has been mooted by the defendant's voluntary conduct is stringent: A case might become moot if subsequent events make it absolutely clear that the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur. United States v. Concentrated Phosphate Export Assn., Inc., 393 U. S. 199 , 203. The heavy burden of persuading the court that the challenged conduct cannot reasonably be expected to recur lies with the party asserting mootness. Ibid. The Court of Appeals incorrectly conflated this Court's case law on initial standing, see, e. g., Steel Co., with its case law on mootness, see, e. g., City of Mesquite. Such confusion is understandable, given this Court's repeated description of mootness as "the doctrine of standing set in a time frame: The requisite personal interest that must exist at the commencement of the litigation (standing) must continue throughout its existence (mootness)." E. g., Arizonans, 520 U. S., at 68, n. 22. Careful reflection, however, reveals that this description of mootness is not comprehensive. For example, a defendant claiming that its voluntary compliance moots a case bears a formidable burden. By contrast, it is the plaintiff's burden, in a lawsuit brought to force compliance, to establish standing by demonstrating that, if unchecked by the litigation, the defendant's allegedly wrongful behavior will likely occur or continue and that the threatened injury is certainly impending. Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U. S. 149 , 158. The plain lesson is that there are circumstances in which the prospect that a defendant will engage in (or resume) harmful conduct may be too speculative to support standing, but not too speculative to overcome mootness. Further, if mootness were simply "standing set in a time frame," the exception to mootness for acts that are "capable of repetition, yet evading review" could not exist. See, e. g., Olmstead v. L. c., 527 U. S. 581 , 594, n. 6. Standing admits of no similar exception; if a plaintiff lacks standing at the time the action commences, the fact that the dispute is capable of repetition yet evading review will not entitle the complainant to a federal judicial forum. See, e. g., Steel Co., 523 U. S., at 109. Standing doctrine ensures, among other things, that the resources of the federal courts are devoted to disputes in which the parties have a concrete stake. Yet by the time mootness is an issue, abandonment of the case may prove more wasteful than frugal. Courts have no license to retain jurisdiction over cases in which one or both of the parties plainly lacks a continuing interest, see, e. g., Arizonans, 520 U. S., at 67, but the foregoing examples highlight an important differ-
fence between the two doctrines, see generally Honig v. Doe, 484 U. S. 305 , 329-332 (REHNQUIST, C. J., concurring).
(e) This Court does not resolve FOE's argument that it is entitled to attorneys' fees on the theory that a plaintiff can be a "prevailing party" under § 1365(d) if it was the "catalyst" that triggered a favorable outcome. Although the Circuits have divided as to the continuing validity of the catalyst theory following Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U. S. 103 , it would be premature for this Court to address the question here. The District Court stayed the time for a petition for attorneys' fees until the time for appeal had expired or until any appeal was resolved. Thus, when the Fourth Circuit addressed the availability of counsel fees, no order was before it either denying or awarding fees. It is for the District Court, not this Court, to address in the first instance any request for reimbursement of costs, including fees. Pp. 194-195.
149 F.3d 303 , reversed and remanded.
curred, and the alleged violator. § 1365(b)(1)(A). "[T]he purpose of notice to the alleged violator is to give it an opportunity to bring itself into complete compliance with the Act and thus ... render unnecessary a citizen suit." Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd. v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., 484 U. S. 49 , 60 (1987). Accordingly, we have held that citizens lack statutory standing under § 505(a) to sue for violations that have ceased by the time the complaint is filed. Id., at 56-63. The Act also bars a citizen from suing if the EPA or the State has already commenced, and is "diligently prosecuting," an enforcement action. 33 U. S. C. § 1365(b)(1)(B).
On July 16, 1998, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued its judgment. 149 F.3d 303 . The Court of Appeals assumed without deciding that FOE initially had standing to bring the action, id., at 306, n. 3, but went on to hold that the case had become moot. The appellate court stated, first, that the elements of Article III standing-injury, causation, and redressability-must persist at every stage of review, or else the action becomes moot. Id., at 306. Citing our decision in Steel Co., the Court of Appeals reasoned that the case had become moot because "the only remedy currently available to [FOE]-civil penalties payable to the government-would not redress any injury [FOE has] suffered." 149 F. 3d, at 306-307. The court therefore vacated the District Court's order and remanded with instructions to dismiss the action. In a footnote, the Court of Appeals added that FOE's "failure to obtain relief on the merits of [its] claims precludes any recovery of attorneys' fees or other litigation costs because such an award is available only to a 'prevailing or substantially prevailing party.'" Id., at 307, n. 5 (quoting 33 U. S. C. § 1365(d)).
case and the decisions of several other Courts of Appeals, which have held that a defendant's compliance with its permit after the commencement of litigation does not moot claims for civil penalties under the Act. See, e. g., Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. v. Stroh Die Casting Co., 116 F. 3d 814, 820 (CA7), cert. denied, 522 U. S. 981 (1997); Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Texaco Rfg. and Mktg., Inc., 2 F.3d 493 , 503-504 (CA3 1993); Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. v. Pan American Tanning Corp., 993 F. 2d 1017, 1020-1021 (CA2 1993); Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 897 F.2d 1128 ,1135 1136 (CAll 1990).
The Constitution's case-or-controversy limitation on federal judicial authority, Art. III, § 2, underpins both our standing and our mootness jurisprudence, but the two inquiries differ in respects critical to the proper resolution of this case, so we address them separately. Because the Court of Appeals was persuaded that the case had become moot and so held, it simply assumed without deciding that FOE had initial standing. See Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, 520 U. S. 43 , 66-67 (1997) (court may assume without deciding that standing exists in order to analyze mootness). But because we hold that the Court of Appeals erred in declaring the case moot, we have an obligation to assure ourselves that FOE had Article III standing at the outset of the litigation. We therefore address the question of standing before turning to mootness.
In Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U. S. 555 , 560-561 (1992), we held that, to satisfy Article Ill's standing requirements, a plaintiff must show (1) it has suffered an "injury in fact" that is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical; (2) the injury is fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendant; and
(3) it is likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision. An association has standing to bring suit on behalf of its members when its members would otherwise have standing to sue in their own right, the interests at stake are germane to the organization's purpose, and neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested requires the participation of individual members in the lawsuit. Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Comm'n, 432 U. S. 333 , 343 (1977).
These sworn statements, as the District Court determined, adequately documented injury in fact. We have held that environmental plaintiffs adequately allege injury in fact when they aver that they use the affected area and are persons "for whom the aesthetic and recreational values of the area will be lessened" by the challenged activity. Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U. S. 727 , 735 (1972). See also Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U. S., at 562-563 ("Of course, the desire to use or observe an animal species, even for purely esthetic purposes, is undeniably a cognizable interest for purposes of standing.").
Laidlaw is right to insist that a plaintiff must demonstrate standing separately for each form of relief sought. See, e. g., Lyons, 461 U. S., at 109 (notwithstanding the fact that plaintiff had standing to pursue damages, he lacked standing to pursue injunctive relief); see also Lewis v. Casey, 518 U. S. 343 , 358, n. 6 (1996) ("[S]tanding is not dispensed in gross."). But it is wrong to maintain that citizen plaintiffs facing ongoing violations never have standing to seek civil penalties.
We have recognized on numerous occasions that "all civil penalties have some deterrent effect." Hudson v. United States, 522 U. S. 93 , 102 (1997); see also, e. g., Department of Revenue of Mont. v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U. S. 767 , 778 (1994). More specifically, Congress has found that civil penalties in Clean Water Act cases do more than promote immediate compliance by limiting the defendant's economic incentive to delay its attainment of permit limits; they also deter future violations. This congressional determination warrants judicial attention and respect. "The legislative history of the Act reveals that Congress wanted the district court to consider the need for retribution and deterrence, in addition to restitution, when it imposed civil penalties .... [The district court may] seek to deter future violations by basing the penalty on its economic impact." Tull v. United States, 481 U. S. 412, 422-423 (1987).
Laidlaw contends that the reasoning of our decision in Steel Co. directs the conclusion that citizen plaintiffs have no standing to seek civil penalties under the Act. We disagree. Steel Co. established that citizen suitors lack standing to seek civil penalties for violations that have abated by the time of suit. 523 U. S., at 106-107. We specifically noted in that case that there was no allegation in the complaint of any continuing or imminent violation, and that no basis for such an allegation appeared to exist. Id., at 108; see also Gwalt ney, 484 U. S., at 59 ("the harm sought to be addressed by
The only conceivable basis for a finding of mootness in this case is Laidlaw's voluntary conduct-either its achievement by August 1992 of substantial compliance with its NPDES permit or its more recent shutdown of the Roebuck facility. It is well settled that "a defendant's voluntary cessation of a challenged practice does not deprive a federal court of its power to determine the legality of the practice." City of Mesquite, 455 U. S., at 289. "[I]f it did, the courts would be compelled to leave '[t]he defendant ... free to return to his old ways.'" Id., at 289, n. 10 (citing United States v. W T. Grant Co., 345 U. S. 629 , 632 (1953)). In accordance with this principle, the standard we have announced for determining whether a case has been mooted by the defendant's voluntary conduct is stringent: "A case might become moot if subsequent events made it absolutely clear that the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur." United States v. Concentrated Phosphate Export Assn., Inc., 393 U. S. 199 , 203 (1968). The "heavy burden of persua[ding]" the court that the challenged conduct cannot reasonably be expected to start up again lies with the party asserting mootness. Ibid.
The Court of Appeals justified its mootness disposition by reference to Steel Co., which held that citizen plaintiffs lack standing to seek civil penalties for wholly past violations. In relying on Steel Co., the Court of Appeals confused mootness with standing. The confusion is understandable, given this Court's repeated statements that the doctrine of mootness can be described as "the doctrine of standing set in a time frame: The requisite personal interest that must exist at the commencement of the litigation (standing) must continue throughout its existence (mootness)." Arizonans for Official English, 520 U. S., at 68, n. 22 (quoting United States Parole Comm'n v. Geraghty, 445 U. S. 388 , 397 (1980), in turn
Careful reflection on the long-recognized exceptions to mootness, however, reveals that the description of mootness as "standing set in a time frame" is not comprehensive. As just noted, a defendant claiming that its voluntary compliance moots a case bears the formidable burden of showing that it is absolutely clear the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur. Concentrated Phosphate Export Assn., 393 U. S., at 203. By contrast, in a lawsuit brought to force compliance, it is the plaintiff's burden to establish standing by demonstrating that, if unchecked by the litigation, the defendant's allegedly wrongful behavior will likely occur or continue, and that the "threatened injury [is] certainly impending." Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U. S. 149 , 158 (1990) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, in Lyons, as already noted, we held that a plaintiff lacked initial standing to seek an injunction against the enforcement of a police chokehold policy because he could not credibly allege that he faced a realistic threat arising from the policy. 461 U. S., at 105-110. Elsewhere in the opinion, however, we noted that a citywide moratorium on police chokeholds-an action that surely diminished the already slim likelihood that any particular individual would be choked by police-would not have mooted an otherwise valid claim for injunctive relief, because the moratorium by its terms was not permanent. Id., at 101. The plain lesson of these cases is that there are circumstances in which the prospect that a defendant will engage in (or resume) harmful conduct may be too speculative to support standing, but not too speculative to overcome mootness.
pIe, a mentally disabled patient files a lawsuit challenging her confinement in a segregated institution, her postcomplaint transfer to a community-based program will not moot the action, Olmstead v. L. c., 527 U. S. 581 , 594, n. 6 (1999), despite the fact that she would have lacked initial standing had she filed the complaint after the transfer. Standing admits of no similar exception; if a plaintiff lacks standing at the time the action commences, the fact that the dispute is capable of repetition yet evading review will not entitle the complainant to a federal judicial forum. See Steel Co., 523 U. S., at 109 (" 'the mootness exception for disputes capable of repetition yet evading review ... will not revive a dispute which became moot before the action commenced''') (quoting Renne v. Geary, 501 U. S. 312 , 320 (1991)).
Weinberger v. Romero-Barcelo, 456 U. S. 305 , 313 (1982). Denial of injunctive relief does not necessarily mean that the district court has concluded there is no prospect of future violations for civil penalties to deter. Indeed, it meant no such thing in this case. The District Court denied injunctive relief, but expressly based its award of civil penalties on the need for deterrence. See 956 F. Supp., at 610-611. As the dissent notes, post, at 205, federal courts should aim to ensure "'the framing of relief no broader than required by the precise facts.''' Schlesinger v. Reservists Comm. to Stop the War, 418 U. S. 208 , 222 (1974). In accordance with this aim, a district court in a Clean Water Act citizen suit properly may conclude that an injunction would be an excessively intrusive remedy, because it could entail continuing superintendence of the permit holder's activities by a federal court-a process burdensome to court and permit holder alike. See City of Mesquite, 455 U. S., at 289 (although the defendant's voluntary cessation of the challenged practice does not moot the case, "[s]uch abandonment is an important factor bearing on the question whether a court should exercise its power to enjoin the defendant from renewing the practice").
FOE argues that it is entitled to attorneys' fees on the theory that a plaintiff can be a "prevailing party" for purposes of 33 U. S. C. § 1365(d) if it was the "catalyst" that triggered a favorable outcome. In the decision under review, the Court of Appeals noted that its Circuit precedent construed our decision in Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U. S. 103 (1992), to require rejection of that theory. 149 F. 3d, at 307, n. 5 (citing S-l & S-2 v. State Bd. of Ed. of N. c., 21 F.3d 49 , 51 (CA4 1994) (en bane)). Cf. Foreman v. Dallas County, 193 F. 3d 314, 320 (CA5 1999) (stating, in dicta, that "[a]fter Farrar ... the continuing validity of the catalyst theory is in serious doubt").
Farrar acknowledged that a civil rights plaintiff awarded nominal damages may be a "prevailing party" under 42 U. S. C. § 1988. 506 U. S., at 112. The case involved no catalytic effect. Recognizing that the issue was not presented for this Court's decision in Farrar, several Courts of Appeals have expressly concluded that Farrar did not repudiate the catalyst theory. See Marbley v. Bane, 57 F.3d 224 , 234 (CA2 1995); Baumgartner v. Harrisburg Housing Authority, 21 F.3d 541 , 546-550 (CA3 1994); Zinn v. Shalala, 35 F.3d 273 , 276 (CA7 1994); Little Rock School Dist. v. Pulaski County Special Sch. Dist., #1, 17 F.3d 260 , 263, n. 2 (CA8 1994); Kilgour v. Pasadena, 53 F.3d 1007 , 1010 (CA9 1995);
Beard v. Teska, 31 F.3d 942 , 951-952 (CAlO 1994); Morris v. West Palm Beach, 194 F.3d 1203 , 1207 (CAll 1999). Other Courts of Appeals have likewise continued to apply the catalyst theory notwithstanding Farrar. Paris v. United States Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, 988 F.2d 236 , 238 (CA1 1993); Citizens Against Tax Waste v. Westerville City School, 985 F.2d 255 , 257 (CA6 1993).
*Comfort Lake Assn. v. Dresel Contracting, Inc., 138 F.3d 351 , 356 (CA8 1998); Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. v. Stroh Die Casting Co., 116 F.3d 814 , 820 (CA7), cert. denied, 522 U. S. 981 (1997); Natural Resources Defense Council v. Texaco Refining & Mktg., Inc., 2 F.3d 493 , 502-503 (CA3 1993); Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. v. Pan Am. Tanning Corp., 993 F.2d 1017 , 1020-1021 (CA2 1993); Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 897 F.2d 1128 , 1134-1137 (CA111990); Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc. v. Gwaltney of Smithfield, Ltd., 890 F.2d 690 , 696-697 (CA4 1989). Cf. Powell v. McCormack, 395 U. S. 486 , 496, n. 8 (1969) ("Where several forms of relief are requested and one of these requests subsequently becomes moot, the Court has still considered the remaining requests").
[certain provisions of the Act or certain permit conditions and limitations] shall be subject to a civil penalty ... "). It is also consistent with the character of civil penalties, which, for purposes of mootness analysis, should be equated with punitive damages rather than with injunctive or declaratory relief. See Tull v. United States, 481 U. S. 412 , 422-423 (1987). No one contends that a defendant's postcomplaint conduct could moot a claim for punitive damages; civil penalties should be treated the same way.
Plaintiffs, as the parties invoking federal jurisdiction, have the burden of proof and persuasion as to the existence of standing. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U. S. 555 , 561 (1992) (hereinafter Lujan); FW/PBS, Inc. v. Dallas, 493 U. S. 215 , 231 (1990). The plaintiffs in this case fell far short of carrying their burden of demonstrating injury in fact. The Court cites affiants' testimony asserting that their enjoyment of the North Tyger River has been diminished due to "concern" that the water was polluted, and that they "believed" that Laidlaw's mercury exceedances had reduced the value of their homes. Ante, at 181-183. These averments alone cannot carry the plaintiffs' burden of demonstrating that they have suffered a "concrete and particularized" injury, Lujan, 504 U. S., at 560. General allegations of injury may suffice at the pleading stage, but at summary judgment plaintiffs must set forth "specific facts" to support their claims. Id., at 561. And where, as here, the case has proceeded to judgment, those specific facts must be " 'supported adequately by the evidence adduced at trial,'" ibid. (quoting Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U. S. 91 , 115, n. 31 (1979)). In this case, the affidavits themselves are
The Court finds these conclusions unproblematic for standing, because "[t]he relevant showing for purposes of Article III standing ... is not injury to the environment but injury to the plaintiff." Ante, at 181. This statement is correct, as far as it goes. We have certainly held that a demonstration of harm to the environment is not enough to satisfy the injury-in-fact requirement unless the plaintiff can demonstrate how he personally was harmed. E. g., Lujan, supra, at 563. In the normal course, however, a lack of demonstrable harm to the environment will translate, as it plainly does here, into a lack of demonstrable harm to citizen plaintiffs. While it is perhaps possible that a plaintiff could be harmed even though the environment was not, such a plaintiff would have the burden of articulating and demonstrating the nature of that injury. Ongoing "concerns" about the environment are not enough, for "[i]t is the reality of the threat of repeated injury that is relevant to the standing inquiry, not the plaintiff's subjective apprehensions," Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U. S. 95 , 107, n. 8 (1983). At the very least, in
The Court is correct that the District Court explicitly found standing-albeit "by the very slimmest of margins," and as "an awfully close call." App. in No. 97-1246 (CA4), pp. 207-208 (Tr. of Hearing 39-40 (June 30, 1993)). That cautious finding, however, was made in 1993, long before the court's 1997 conclusion that Laidlaw's discharges did not harm the environment. As we have previously recognized, an initial conclusion that plaintiffs have standing is subject to reexamination, particularly if later evidence proves inconsistent with that conclusion. Gladstone, 441 U. S., at 115, and n. 31; Wyoming v. Oklahoma, 502 U. S. 437 , 446 (1992). Laidlaw challenged the existence of injury in fact on appeal to the Fourth Circuit, but that court did not reach the question. Thus no lower court has reviewed the injury-in-fact issue in light of the extensive studies that led the District Court to conclude that the environment was not harmed by Laidlaw's discharges.
Inexplicably, the Court is untroubled by this, but proceeds to find injury in fact in the most casual fashion, as though it is merely confirming a careful analysis made below. Although we have previously refused to find standing based on the "conclusory allegations of an affidavit," Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, 497 U. S. 871 , 888 (1990), the Court is content to do just that today. By accepting plaintiffs' vague, contradictory, and unsubstantiated allegations of "concern" about the environment as adequate to prove injury in fact, and accepting them even in the face of a finding that the environment was not demonstrably harmed, the Court makes the injury-in-fact requirement a sham. If there are permit violations, and a member of a plaintiff environmental organization lives near the offending plant, it would be difficult not to satisfy to day's lenient standard.
Although the Court in Linda R. S. recited the "logical nexus" analysis of Flast v. Cohen, 392 U. S. 83 (1968), which has since fallen into desuetude, "it is clear that standing was denied ... because of the unlikelihood that the relief requested would redress appellant's claimed injury." Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc., 438 U. S. 59 , 79, n. 24 (1978). There was no "logical nexus" between nonenforcement of the statute and Linda R. So's failure to receive support payments because "[t]he prospect that prosecution will ... result in payment of support" was "speculative," Linda R. S., supra, at 618-that is to say, it was uncertain whether the relief would prevent the injury.l Of
vidual plaintiff the power to invoke a public remedy, Congress has done precisely what we have said it cannot do: convert an "undifferentiated public interest" into an "individual right" vindicable in the courts. Lujan, supra, at 577; Steel Co., 523 U. S., at 106. The sort of scattershot redress approved today makes nonsense of our statement in Schlesinger v. Reservists Comm. to Stop the War, 418 U. S. 208 , 222 (1974), that the requirement of injury in fact "insures the framing of relief no broader than required by the precise facts." A claim of particularized future injury has today been made the vehicle for pursuing generalized penalties for past violations, and a threshold showing of injury in fact has become a lever that will move the world.
The Court points out that we have previously said "'all civil penalties have some deterrent effect,'" ante, at 185 (quoting Hudson v. United States, 522 U. S. 93 , 102 (1997)). That is unquestionably true: As a general matter, polluters as a class are deterred from violating discharge limits by the availability of civil penalties. However, none of the cases the Court cites focused on the deterrent effect of a single imposition of penalties on a particular lawbreaker. Even less did they focus on the question whether that particularized deterrent effect (if any) was enough to redress the injury of a citizen plaintiff in the sense required by Article III. They all involved penalties pursued by the government, not by citizens. See id., at 96; Department of Revenue of Mont. v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U. S. 767 , 773 (1994); Tull v. United States, 481 U. S. 412 , 414 (1987).
Because the discussion is not essential-indeed, not even relevant-to the Court's decision, it is of limited significance. Nonetheless, I am troubled by the Court's too-hasty retreat from our characterization of mootness as "the doctrine of standing set in a time frame." Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, 520 U. S. 43 , 68, n. 22 (1997). We have repeatedly recognized that what is required for litigation to continue is essentially identical to what is required for litigation to begin: There must be a justiciable case or controversy as required by Article III. "Simply stated, a case is moot when the issues presented are no longer 'live' or the parties lack a legally cognizable interest in the outcome." Powell v. McCormack, 395 U. S. 486 , 496 (1969). A court may not
6 The Court attempts to frame its exposition as a corrective to the Fourth Circuit, which it claims "confused mootness with standing." Ante, at 189. The Fourth Circuit's conclusion of nonjusticiability rested upon the belief (entirely correct, in my view) that the only remedy being pursued on appeal, civil penalties, would not redress FOE's claimed injury. 149 F.3d 303 , 306 (1998). While this might be characterized as a conclusion that FOE had no standing to pursue civil penalties from the outset, it can also be characterized, as it was by the Fourth Circuit, as a conclusion that, when FOE declined to appeal denial of the declaratory judgment and injunction, and appealed only the inadequacy of the civil penalties (which it had no standing to pursue) the case as a whole became moot. Given the Court's erroneous conclusion that civil penalties can redress private injury, it of course rejects both formulations-but neither of them necessitates the Court's academic discourse comparing the mootness and standing doctrines.
proceed to hear an action if, subsequent to its initiation, the dispute loses "its character as a present, live controversy of the kind that must exist if [the court is] to avoid advisory opinions on abstract propositions of law." Hall v. Beals, 396 U. S. 45, 48 (1969) (per curiam). See also Preiser v. Newkirk, 422 U. S. 395 , 401 (1975); Steffel v. Thompson, 415 U. S. 452 ,459, n. 10 (1974). Because the requirement of a continuing case or controversy derives from the Constitution, Liner v. Jafco, Inc., 375 U. S. 301 , 306, n. 3 (1964), it may not be ignored when inconvenient, United States v. Alaska S. S. Co., 253 U. S. 113 , 116 (1920) (moot question cannot be decided, "[h]owever convenient it might be"), or, as the Court suggests, to save "sunk costs," compare ante, at 192, with Lewis v. Continental Bank Corp., 494 U. S. 472 , 480 (1990) ("[R]easonable caution is needed to be sure that mooted litigation is not pressed forward ... solely in order to obtain reimbursement of sunk costs").
but there is a demonstrated probability that it will recur, a real-life controversy between parties with a personal stake in the outcome continues to exist." Honig v. Doe, 484 U. S. 305 , 341 (1988) (SCALIA, J., dissenting) (emphasis deleted).
Part of the confusion in the Court's discussion is engendered by the fact that it compares standing, on the one hand, with mootness based on voluntary cessation, on the other hand. Ante, at 190. The required showing that it is "absolutely clear" that the conduct "could not reasonably be expected to recur" is not the threshold showing required for mootness, but the heightened showing required in a particular category of cases where we have sensibly concluded that there is reason to be skeptical that cessation of violation means cessation of live controversy. For claims of mootness based on changes in circumstances other than voluntary cessation, the showing we have required is less taxing, and the inquiry is indeed properly characterized as one of" 'standing set in a time frame.'" See Arizonans, supra, at 67, 68, n. 22 (case mooted where plaintiff's change in jobs deprived case of "still vital claim for prospective relief"); Spencer v. Kemna, 523 U. S. 1 , 7 (1998) (case mooted by petitioner's completion of his sentence, since "throughout the litigation, the plaintiff must have suffered, or be threatened with, an actual injury traceable to the defendant and likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision" (internal quotation marks omitted)); Lewis, supra, at 478-480 (case against State mooted by change in federal law that eliminated parties' "personal stake" in the outcome).
at 68, n. 22 (quoting United States Parole Comm'n v. Geraghty, 445 U. S. 388 , 397 (1980)).