Opinion ID: 2601765
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Allegations in the Browns' Complaint, Taken as True, Establish a Reasonable Probability of Future Injury Due to McIntyre's Bridge

Text: ¶ 22 While the court of appeals acknowledged that the Browns had alleged that, when flooding occurs, they would suffer harm from McIntyre's bridge, the court nonetheless affirmed the district court's dismissal of the Browns' case on the ground that the alleged injury was too speculative to satisfy our standing requirements. The court of appeals found that, in order to obtain standing based on allegations of a future harm, the plaintiff must show that their alleged injury is imminent or certainly impending. [20] Because it found that the Browns' alleged injury depended on `contingent future events that may not occur as anticipated or indeed may not occur at all,' it determined that the Browns lacked standing. [21] In so doing, it erred. ¶ 23 As discussed above, our standing law requires only that a plaintiff show a reasonable probability of future injury; a plaintiff is not required to prove that his alleged injury is imminent or certain. And in this case, the Browns' complaint satisfies our injury requirement for purposes of a challenge to standing at the pleading stage of litigation. ¶ 24 The Browns' complaint, read in light of the attached SECOR Report, alleges that, when flooding occurs, it is very likely that McIntyre's bridge would cause a damming effect on the creek, resulting in increased erosion of the stream bank and corresponding reduction in lateral support to the escarpment atop which their property lies. Although the Browns do not allege that they are certain to be injured when flooding occurs, certainty of future injury is not required to obtain standing. The fact that an injury ultimately may not occur as anticipated, or at all, does not preclude standing if there is a reasonable probability that it will occur. ¶ 25 Here, the Browns have alleged that it is very likely they will be injured if a flood occurs. According to their allegations, a reasonable probability of injury, as we have defined it above, clearly exists. Taking the Browns' allegations as true, which we must for purposes of McIntyre's motion to dismiss, the Browns have established that there is more than a mere possibility of injury. They have set forth facts and express allegations demonstrating that their alleged injury is likely. This satisfies our reasonable probability standard at this stage of the litigation. Accordingly, we hold that the court of appeals erred by affirming, on the ground that the Browns' alleged injury was not immediate or certainly impending, the district court's dismissal of the Browns' complaint for lack of standing. [22]