Court Opinion

ID: 9539056
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:45:58.710726+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:25.038988
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Chief Justice,
with whom ROSE, Justice, joins, specially concurring.
I agree with the result reached in the majority opinion of the court. For myself, however, I would ground the affirmance strictly upon the proposition that the union and its representative have no standing to assert that the rule amendment unconstitutionally impairs their labor contract.
A fundamental aspect of the doctrine of standing is that those who press an issue *1298must allege “a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy.” Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204, 82 S.Ct. 691, 703, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962); Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2205, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975); Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation, 429 U.S. 252, 97 S.Ct. 555, 561, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977). It is the personal stake in the result which guarantees a full and complete adversary presentation of the case. Spratt v. Security Bank of Buffalo, Wyoming, Wyo., 654 P.2d 130, 134 (1982); In the Matter of Various Water Rights in Lake DeSmet Reservoir, Wyo., 623 P.2d 764, 767 (1981); Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 731-732, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1364, 31 L.Ed.2d 636, 641 (1972). In Wyoming this personal stake has been described as a “tangible interest at stake.” Cremer v. State Board of Control, Wyo., 675 P.2d 250, 254 (1984); Washakie County School District Number One v. Herschler, Wyo., 606 P.2d 310, 316 (1980), cert. denied 449 U.S. 824, 101 S.Ct. 86, 66 L.Ed.2d 28 (1980). It has been our requirement that one asserting an issue be “sufficiently affected to insure that a justiciable controversy is presented to the court.” Cremer v. State Board of Control, supra, 675 P.2d at 254; Washakie County School District Number One v. Herschler, supra, 606 P.2d at 317.
The International Association of Firefighters, Local No. 279, as an association, is free to assert the associational rights of its members. Warth v. Seldin, supra, 95 S.Ct. at 2211. To do so the association must show that it or at least some one of its individual members has been injured. Warth v. Seldin, supra, 95 S.Ct. at 2213. If the interests of its members are represented by the association then those members must be in a position to bring the action in their own right. Warth v. Seldin, supra, 95 S.Ct. at 2214. As the majority opinion notes, in this case the petitioners have not alleged actual or imminent harm to any of the six members found at the top of the promotional lists. No one has been denied a promotion on the basis of any change in the personnel rules; it was stipulated that there was not even an opening for promotion. These petitioners then “rely on little more than the remote possibility, unsubstantiated by allegations of fact, that their situation might have been better had the respondents acted otherwise, and might improve if the court were to afford relief.” Warth v. Seldin, supra, 95 S.Ct. at 2209-2210.
The requirement that this court decide only justiciable controversies does not recognize an exception for a declaratory judgment action. Brimmer v. Thomson, Wyo., 521 P.2d 574, 579 (1974); Poe v. Ullman, 367 U.S. 497, 81 S.Ct. 1752, 6 L.Ed.2d 989, reh. denied 368 U.S. 869, 82 S.Ct. 21, 7 L.Ed.2d 69 (1961). See Washakie County School District Number One v. Herschler, supra, 606 P.2d at 317. The standard may be relaxed if questions of “great public interest or importance” are involved (Washakie County School District Number One v. Herschler, supra, 606 P.2d at 318, citing Brimmer v. Thomson, supra, 521 P.2d at 578), but that relaxation standard must be applied with caution. There is nothing in this case which indicates that the traditional rules of justiciability should be relaxed.
I recognize the concept of mootness relied upon by the district court and apparently espoused by the majority in this decision. But mootness assumes that there at one time did exist a justiciable controversy. See DeFunis v. Odegaard, 416 U.S. 312, 94 S.Ct. 1704, 1706, 40 L.Ed.2d 164 (1974); Firefighters Local Union No. 1784 v. Stotts, — U.S.-, 104 S.Ct. 2576, 2585, 81 L.Ed.2d 483 (1984); Gulf Oil Corporation v. Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Wyo., 693 P.2d 227 (1985); State Department of Revenue and Taxation v. Guadagnoli, Wyo., 677 P.2d 823, 830 (1984); Walker v. Board of County Commissioners, Albany County, Wyo., 644 P.2d 772, 774 (1982); Northern Utilities, Inc. v. Public Service Commission of Wyoming, Wyo., 620 P.2d 139, 139-140 (1980). Since standing to bring an action is jurisdictional in nature, however (Spratt v. Security Bank of Buffalo, supra, 654 P.2d *1299at 134; In the Matter of Various Water Rights in Lake DeSmet, supra, 623 P.2d at 767), there never was a justiciable controversy in this case, and consequently there is no room for the application of the doctrine of mootness.
As indicated, I would affirm the trial court, but for the reasons articulated in this separate opinion.