Opinion ID: 185218
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: D&F's Standing

Text: 10 The FAA challenges D&F's standing to bring this appeal. In order to establish Article III standing, D&F must show that (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. Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Envtl. Servs., Inc., 120 S. Ct. 693, 704 (2000) (citing Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61 (1992)); see also Florida Audubon Soc'y v. Bentsen, 94 F.3d 658, 663 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (en banc). D&F established an actual and concrete and particularized injury consisting of a diminution in property value due to its inability to obtain an occupancy permit from the town. The FAA argues, however, that D&F has not shown a causal link between the agency's hazard determination and D&F's injury, given the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission and airport's independent objections to the house. The FAA also challenges the ability of this court to redress D&F's injury by reversing the agency because the town, not the agency, controls permit issuance. 11 If the FAA hazard determination independently diminished the house's property value or constituted the only factor motivating the town's denial of the occupancy permit, causation and redressibility would be non-issues because our reversal of the FAA would either provide a remedy for the financial injury caused by the FAA or prompt the town to issue the permit. However, neither the record nor the briefs submitted to this court established which of the events among the FAA's findings, the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission's findings, the airport's complaint, or some combination thereof prompted the town's denial of the occupancy permit and the diminution in property value. However, at oral argument, D&F asserted that the FAA's hazard determination in and of itself caused a diminution in property value and that the town was withholding the occupancy permit solely due to the FAA's hazard determination. Therefore, we afforded D&F the opportunity to submit affidavits supporting its allegations, if true. 12 Upon review of D&F's submissions, we conclude that D&F alleges facts satisfying the standing requirements of causation and redressibility. D&F supplied an affidavit explaining that a real estate broker ... informed [D&F] that the FAA's Hazard Determination has resulted in a diminution of value to the Afonso House independent of whether an occupancy permit is granted. In addition, D&F submitted an affidavit establishing that the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission would defer to the outcome of the FAA-related proceedings currently before this Court. Moreover, D&F supplied an affidavit from the Hopedale Building Commissioner declaring that the only obstacle to issuance of the occupancy permit is the FAA's Hazard Determination. But for that Determination, the occupancy permit would have already issued. If the FAA's Hazard Determination is withdrawn or reversed, [the town] will issue an occupancy permit for the Afonso House forthwith. We must construe the statements made in the affidavits in the light most favorable to the petitioner. See Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 501 (1975). Taken together, the statements show that the FAA's hazard determination causes D&F injury in the form of diminished property value and comprises the sole obstacle between D&F and an occupancy permit. Therefore, we conclude that D&F has standing to challenge the FAA's hazard determination.