Opinion ID: 540143
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: General Principles of Standing

Text: 20 The constitutional concerns of standing have been described as follows: 21 In its constitutional dimension, standing imports justiciability: whether the plaintiff has made out a 'case or controversy' between himself and the defendant within the meaning of Article III. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2205, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975). Essentially, the question is whether the person whose standing is challenged is a proper party to request an adjudication o[f] a particular issue and not whether the issue itself is justiciable. Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 99, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 1952, 20 L.Ed.2d 947 (1968). Plaintiffs in the federal courts must have a personal stake in the outcome of the case, Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204, 82 S.Ct. 691, 703, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962), and must allege some threatened or actual injury resulting from the putatively illegal action. Linda R.S. v. Richard D., 410 U.S. 614, 617, 93 S.Ct. 1146, 1148, 35 L.Ed.2d 536 (1973). Abstract injury is not enough.... The injury or threat of injury must be both 'real and immediate,' not 'conjectural' or 'hypothetical.'  O'Shea v. Littleton, 414 U.S. 488, 494, 94 S.Ct. 669, 675, 38 L.Ed.2d 674 (1974). 22 Pollard, 578 F.2d at 1005-06. 23 In order to analyze standing, the Supreme Court has formulated a two-component framework, consisting of irreducible constitutional requirements and prudential considerations. Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church & State, 454 U.S. 464, 472, 102 S.Ct. 752, 758, 70 L.Ed.2d 700 (1982); Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U.S. 91, 99, 99 S.Ct. 1601, 1607, 60 L.Ed.2d 66 (1979); Morley, 867 F.2d at 1386; Saladin, 812 F.2d at 690. Satisfaction of the constitutional requisites for standing necessitates the demonstration of three factors. First, the party asserting standing must have suffered actual injury or show the imminence of such injury. Valley Forge Christian College, 454 U.S. at 472, 102 S.Ct. at 758; Morley, 867 F.2d at 1386; Saladin, 812 F.2d at 690; see Gladstone, 441 U.S. at 99, 99 S.Ct. at 1607; Steele, 755 F.2d at 1413-14. Abstract harm is insufficient; the litigant must establish actual or threatened injury. City of Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 101-02, 103 S.Ct. 1660, 1665, 75 L.Ed.2d 675 (1983); Smith v. Meese, 821 F.2d 1484, 1494 (11th Cir.1987). Second, the injury must be fairly traceable to the alleged unlawful conduct. Valley Forge Christian College, 454 U.S. at 472, 102 S.Ct. at 758; Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Envtl. Study Group, Inc., 438 U.S. 59, 72, 98 S.Ct. 2620, 2630, 57 L.Ed.2d 595 (1978); Morley, 867 F.2d at 1386; Steele, 755 F.2d at 1414. Third, a demonstration must be made that the requested relief likely will redress the injury. Valley Forge Christian College, 454 U.S. at 472, 102 S.Ct. at 758; Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Org., 426 U.S. 26, 41, 96 S.Ct. 1917, 1925, 48 L.Ed.2d 450 (1976); Morley, 867 F.2d at 1386; Steele, 755 F.2d at 1414. When standing has been contested, it is the burden of the party claiming standing to plead and prove injury in fact, causation, and redressability. Steele, 755 F.2d at 1414 (citing C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure, Sec. 3522 at 63-65 (1984)); Morley, 867 F.2d at 1389. 24 After satisfying these constitutional requirements, a party claiming standing also must demonstrate that prudential considerations do not restrain the trial court from hearing the case. Morley, 867 F.2d at 1386. The Court recognizes three considerations which discourage judicial action despite a party's satisfaction of the constitutional prerequisites for standing: (1) assertion of a third party's rights, (2) allegation of a generalized grievance rather than an injury particular to the litigant, and (3) assertion of an injury outside the zone of interests of the statute or constitutional provision. Valley Forge Christian College, 454 U.S. at 474-75, 102 S.Ct. at 759-60; Morley, 867 F.2d at 1386; Saladin, 812 F.2d at 690; see Association of Data Processing Serv. Orgs., Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 153, 90 S.Ct. 827, 830, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970); Warth, 422 U.S. at 499, 95 S.Ct. at 2205; Davis Forestry Corp. v. Smith, 707 F.2d 1325, 1328 (11th Cir.1983). The party alleging standing must surmount all of these prudential concerns. 25 Under the constitutional requirements of standing, we find the bankruptcy trustee Hadley to be deficient. He has conceded that he is asserting the claims of GIC customer creditors rather than the entity GIC, which he represents. The subject GIC customer creditors never delegated to Hadley the authority to pursue their claims. Furthermore, the injury to these customer creditors is not entirely the fault of Hutton, but in part is because of GIC's misappropriation of the funds of its customers who paid GIC in full for securities that GIC purchased through its margin account with Hutton. Therefore, finding standing in Hadley would not redress the injury because the implicated GIC customer creditors may pursue causes of action against GIC and/or Hutton. Analysis of the prudential considerations of standing is intercepted by Hadley's failure to meet the constitutional requirements. We note, however, that the bankruptcy trustee also does not satisfy these considerations; particularly, as we shall discuss subsequently, the bankruptcy trustee has asserted injury outside the applicable statutory zone of interests. 26