Opinion ID: 2446086
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Particularized Injury

Text: [¶ 14] To establish standing before the Board, similar to seeking judicial review in an 80B action, Friends must also demonstrate a particularized injury. See Nergaard, 2009 ME 56, ¶ 16, 973 A.2d at 740. A particularized injury occurs when a judgment or order adversely and directly affects a party's property, pecuniary, or personal rights. Id. ¶ 18, 973 A.2d at 740. Users of affected property may have standing, see, e.g., In re Int'l Paper Co., 363 A.2d 235, 238-39 (Me.1976) (finding organizations to be aggrieved parties under the relevant statute because members breathed the air that would likely be affected by the proposed development), but the party's injury must be distinct from that suffered by the public at large, Nergaard, 2009 ME 56, ¶ 18, 973 A.2d at 740. There is a minimal threshold for an abutting landowner. Id. ¶ 18, 973 A.2d at 740-41. Additionally, standing has been liberally granted to people who own property in the same neighborhood as the property that is subject to a permit or variance. Id. ¶ 18, 973 A.2d at 741. [¶ 15] Friends therefore could have established this element by pointing to a single member who owns property that abuts or is in close proximity to the affected land and who can allege a potential for particularized injury or who will suffer some injury to a pecuniary interest or personal right. Even with this low threshold, however, Friends failed to show a particularized injury because it identified no members who would be affected by the project in any way. [¶ 16] The Board gave Friends ample opportunity to submit some minimal evidence regarding its identity, participation, and interest, and Friends did not comply. The Board was not required to give Friends an additional opportunity, and did not err, abuse its discretion, or make findings not supported by substantial evidence in the record in holding that Friends had failed to demonstrate its status as an aggrieved party with a right to appear before the Board. [¶ 17] In conclusion, we affirm the dismissal of the action because Friends failed to demonstrate standing to bring an 80B appeal. Alternatively, Friends failed to show standing to appear before the Board. Because we affirm the judgment, we do not address the Board's additional argument that the court erred by reviewing evidence outside the record that was favorable to Friends. The entry is: Judgment affirmed.