Opinion ID: 793001
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Qwest Lacks Standing to Challenge the New Ordinances

Text: 14 Qwest argues that the Cities' new ordinances granting the exemption from the licensing and franchise requirements violate the Arizona constitutional prohibition against special legislation. Qwest, however, lacks standing to challenge the enactment of the ordinances because it suffered no injury in fact. A party must have standing as determined by federal law when litigating in federal court, even if the party is challenging a state law. See Lee v. Am. Nat. Ins. Co., 260 F.3d 997, 1001-02 (9th Cir.2001). The first standing requirement is that the party suffered an injury in fact. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). An injury in fact is an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized, and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical. Id. (quotation marks and citations omitted). 15 Here, the challenged ordinances exempt Qwest from the Cities' licensing and franchise requirements, which is a benefit not an injury. Qwest argues that the ordinances are discriminatory because telecommunications providers that do not qualify for the exemption must make burdensome disclosures. While this contention might be true, Qwest suffers no injury when its competitors are subjected to additional, costly requirements. During oral argument, Qwest admitted that the only harm Qwest suffered from the ordinances' enactment is that Qwest can no longer adjudicate the merits of its preemption claim, but the ordinances provide Qwest with the very benefit it seeks on the merits — relief from the licensing and franchise requirements. Because Qwest has not suffered an injury in fact, it lacks standing to challenge the validity of the Cities' new ordinances under Arizona law. 16