Opinion ID: 201629
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Corimer-Youngs' Lack of Standing

Text: 40 The district court next dismissed Cormier-Youngs as a plaintiff in the remaining Section 1983 claims. Article III of the Constitution confines the federal courts to deciding actual cases and controversies. Cotter v. City of Boston, 323 F.3d 160, 166 (1st Cir.2003). In order to establish Article III standing, a plaintiff must have a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy. Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962). And, [a]ctions to enforce corporate rights or redress injuries to [a] corporation cannot be maintained by a stockholder in his own name ... even though the injury to the corporation may incidentally result in the depreciation or destruction of the value of the stock. Pignato v. Dein Host, Inc., 835 F.2d 402, 406 (1st Cir.1987) (quoting Brictson v. Woodrough, 164 F.2d 107, 109 (8th Cir.1947)). This standing rule applies even when there is only one shareholder in a corporation. See id. And, although we have not yet had the opportunity to explicitly state, we join the circuits who have already addressed the issue to hold that this standing requirement also applies to actions brought to redress injuries to a corporation under Section 1983. See Potthoff v. Morin, 245 F.3d 710, 717 (8th Cir.2001) (holding that the shareholder standing rule applies to civil rights actions brought pursuant to § 1983); Flynn v. Merrick, 881 F.2d 446, 450 (7th Cir.1989) (holding that filing suit under § 1983 does not diminish the requirement that the shareholder suffer some individual, direct injury.); Gregory v. Mitchell, 634 F.2d 199, 202 (5th Cir.1981) (extending shareholder standing rule to civil rights actions under § 1983); Erlich v. Glasner, 418 F.2d 226, 228 (9th Cir.1969) (finding nothing in the Civil Rights Act which would permit a plaintiff-stockholder to circumvent the rule that even though a stockholder owns all, or practically all, of the stock in a corporation, such a fact of itself does not authorize him to sue as an individual). 41 Here, Appellant Cormier-Youngs does not allege any injury, separate from the injury to Diva's, resulting from her claim that the Appellees violated Section 1983 when they acted under color of state law to deny Diva's the special amusement permit in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. As the district court correctly determined, once it dismissed all but the Section 1983 claim of the second amended complaint, Appellant Cormier-Youngs no longer had Article III standing. We affirm the dismissal of Cormier-Youngs as a plaintiff in the remaining Section 1983 claim.