Court Opinion

ID: 9513537
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:37:23.561132+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:05:53.977409
License: Public Domain

KAPSNER, Justice,
dissenting.
[¶ 53] Because the district court’s award of summary judgment against the Kippens presumes, without adequate evidence, their conduct violated N.D.C.C. § 12.1-20-10, on the basis of their admission of intent to live together while unmarried, and because the district court erred under N.D.R.Civ.P. 12 and 17 in dismissing the Housing Council for lack of standing and as not a real party in interest, I respectfully dissent.
I
[¶ 54] The legislative history clearly evinces an intent that N.D.C.C. § 12.1-20-10, prohibiting unlawful cohabitation, should not be repealed, notwithstanding its potential conflict with the former North Dakota Human Rights Act (“NDHRA”), N.D.C.C. § 14-02.4-12, which prohibited housing discrimination on the basis of “status with respect to marriage.” Since the statutes coexisted, they must be harmonized, if possible. Birst v. Sanstead, 493 N.W.2d 690, 695 (N.D.1992). The majority says the statutes are harmonized by recognizing that the cohabitation statute regulates conduct, not status. If , that is so, then granting summary judgment under the record developed in this case is improper because there is insufficient evidence of conduct for which the Kippens could be prosecuted under § 12.1-20-10. The district court awarded summary judgment in favor of the Petersons despite the existence of a genuine issue of material fact that Kippens’ conduct violated § 12.1-20-10. The Petersons presumed the Kip-pens were unlawfully cohabiting based on their marital status, and by granting summary judgment, the district court asks us to make the same presumption that the Kippens’ conduct violated the cohabitation statute based only on them admission of intent to live together while unmarried.
A
[¶ 55] Summary judgment is appropriate for resolving a controversy without a trial only if the evidence shows there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, or the inferences to be drawn from undisputed material facts, and if the evidence shows a party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Mandan Educ. Ass’n v. Mandan Pub. Sch. Dist. No. 1, 2000 ND 92, ¶ 6, 610 N.W.2d 64; see also N.D.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The evidence presented must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion, who must be given the benefit of all favorable *565inferences which reasonably can be drawn from the evidence. Mandan, at ¶ 6.
[¶ 56] In reviewing summary judgment decisions, we have emphasized that neither we nor the trial court are allowed to weigh evidence, determine credibility, or attempt to discern the truth of the matter. Opp v. Source One Mgmt., Inc., 1999 ND 52, ¶ 16, 591 N.W.2d 101. Rather, the question for the court is whether a fact finder could return a verdict for the party bringing the motion on the evidence presented. Wishnatsky v. Huey, 1998 ND App 8, ¶ 5, 584 N.W.2d 859 (citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)). The mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of a party’s position will be insufficient; there must be evidence on which the fact finder could reasonably find for the party. Id. Therefore, when determining if a genuine factual issue as to the alleged unlawful activity exists, the trial judge must bear in mind the actual quantum and quality of proof necessary to support liability. Smith v. Land O’Lakes, Inc., 1998 ND 219, ¶ 12, 587 N.W.2d 173. Unless the evidence presented is of sufficient caliber or quantity to allow a rational finder of fact to find proof of the unlawful activity by the requisite burden of proof, there is no genuine issue of material fact regarding the illegal conduct. Id. (citing Liberty Lobby, at 254, 106 S.Ct. 2505).
[¶ 57] The record does not contain evidence sufficient to show the Kippens committed unlawful cohabitation. Therefore, the mere existence of the cohabitation statute is an insufficient basis for awarding summary judgment on the asserted grounds that the refusal to rent was not discrimination.
B
[¶ 58] Based on the legislative history, chronicled by the majority, I do not dispute the district court’s conclusion that cohabitation is conduct rather than status. However, I take issue with the fact that both the Petersons and the district court have presumed Kippens’ unlawful conduct based only on their unmarried status. According to the Kippens’ Separate Statement of Material Facts not in Genuine Dispute, which the District Court also found to be undisputed, the Kippens were living together and were not married at the time Robert Kippen called the Peter-sons to inquire about renting housing. When receiving calls inquiring about rental property, Mary Peterson had the regular practice of asking who would be occupying the property and of informing callers the Petersons would not rent to an unmarried cohabiting couple because of the North Dakota cohabitation law. When Robert Kippen spoke to Mary Peterson, he said he was interested in the rental property and he and his fiancee would be living there. Robert Kippen made no representation they were married. In reply, Mary Peterson told Robert Kippen that the Petersons would not be able to rent to him because he was cohabiting with his fiancee. Thus, from the mere fact that Robert Kippen admitted his intent to occupy an apartment with his fiancee, Mary Peterson concluded the Kippens intended to unlawfully cohabit, but there is insufficient evidence to conclude the Kippens could be prosecuted for unlawfully cohabiting.
[¶ 59] Under N.D.C.C. § 12.1-20-10, unlawful cohabitation is defined as “liv[ing] openly and notoriously with a person of the opposite sex as a married couple without being married to the other person.” Mary Peterson had no evidence the Kip-pens would be living together “openly and notoriously,” which this Court has defined to mean undisguised, unconcealed, and generally known or as a matter of common knowledge in the community. See State v. *566Hoffman, 68 N.D. 610, 612, 282 N.W. 407, 409 (1938). Neither did Mary Peterson have proof that the Kippens would be living “as a married couple,” which is a requirement of violating § 12.1-20-10. Rather, Mary Peterson presumed the Kippens’ conduct was unlawful simply on the basis of their “status with respect to marriage.” See N.D.C.C. § 14-02.4-12 (1995). Therefore, the district court erroneously granted summary judgment because there is a genuine issue as to material facts establishing that the Kippens actually were or would be unlawfully cohabiting. See N.D.R.Civ.P. 56(c) (rendering summary judgment “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that any party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law”).
[¶ 60] Although the plaintiffs’ complaint stated, “At all times relevant to this action, [the Kippens] were cohabitating [sic] as an unmarried couple,” nevertheless, there was still an issue in dispute whether they would be openly and notoriously living as a married couple, as proscribed under the unlawful cohabitation statute. As the majority concedes, “Varying definitions of cohabitation exist.” The Petersons cannot presume the Kippens were planning to violate the unlawful cohabitation statute without evidence they were planning to “live[ ] openly and notoriously with a person of the opposite sex as a married couple without being married to the other person.” See N.D.C.C. § 12.1-20.10. Mary Peterson had no evidence the Kippens would be violating the statute, but rather she presumed the Kippens’ unlawful conduct simply from their unmarried status, and such presumption is discrimination based on “status with respect to marriage” within the meaning of former N.D.C.C. § 14-02.4-12.
[¶ 61] In awarding summary judgment against the Kippens, the district court discussed our definition of cohabitation in Baker v. Baker, 1997 ND 135, ¶ 13, 566 N.W.2d 806. In Baker, we stated cohabitation includes, “The mutual assumption of those marital rights, duties and obligations which are usually manifested by married people, including but not necessarily dependent on sexual relations.” Id. On the basis of this definition, the plain language of N.D.C.C. § 12.1-20-10 prohibiting cohabitation, and the fact that Robert Kip-pen stated to Mary Peterson he would be living with his fiancee, the district court stated, “[I]t is clear that [the Kippens] would be in violation of N.D.C.C. § 12.1-20-10.” The court further stated, “The Pe-tersons refused to rent to [the Kippens] not because of their marital status but rather because [the Kippens] were planning on living together in violation of North Dakota law.” However, Robert Kippens had not plainly admitted to Mary Peterson that he planned to violate all the elements of the cohabitation statute. See In re Estate of Stanton, 472 N.W.2d 741, 746 (N.D.1991) (stating summary judgment is only proper when a party fails to raise even a reasonable inference of the existence of an element essential to the party’s claim and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial); see also N.D.C.C. § 12.1-20-10 (criminalizing openly and notoriously living with a person of the opposite sex as a married couple without being married to the other person).
[¶ 62] The district court’s award of summary judgment is premature, as there was no evidence that the Kippens would be “living as a married couple,” i.e., that they would be mutually assuming marital rights, duties and obligations usually manifested by married people, including but not necessarily dependent on sexual relations. See Baker, 1997 ND 135, ¶ 13, 566 N.W.2d 806. The standards for granting a sum*567mary judgment do not permit the trial court to conclude the Petersons were making a decision based on conduct violating N.D.C.C. § 12.1-20-10. Therefore, I would reverse the summary judgment.
II
[¶ 63] The district court granted Peter-sons’ motion to dismiss the Housing Council, under Rules 12 and 17, N.D.R.Civ.P., on the grounds that the Housing Council lacked standing to sue, under the former N.D.C.C. § 14-02.4-12, and is not a real party in interest. After a discussion of legislative history, the district court found the legislative intent “ambiguous and ambivalent” regarding whether the Housing Council is a person aggrieved by a discriminatory housing practice. Guided by our opinion in Shark v. U.S. West Communications, Inc., 545 N.W.2d 194 (N.D.1996), the district court opined that “standing is dependent upon a truly independent claim,” but the Housing Council’s “entire claim ... is dependent upon alleged violations of [the Kippens’] rights.” The district court found the Kippens are the real parties in interest, the Housing Council’s claims of personal loss are actually derivative of Kippens’ claims, and the Council’s injuries based on its role of citizens’ watchdog group are “entirely voluntarily assumed.” The district court concluded the Housing Council “failed to establish that it has a real interest in the litigation that is not dependent upon the claims of injury by third persons” and thus has no personal right or interest violated and, under these circumstances, lacks standing to pursue a claim in them own name. However, the district court erred in dismissing the Housing Council under Rules 12 and 17, N.D.R.Civ.P., as the Housing Council alleged independent and legally cognizable injuries sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss on the pleadings. The district court’s reliance on Shark does not support the court’s analysis underpinning its dismissal of the Housing Council.
A
[¶ 64] Pursuant to N.D.R.Civ.P. 12, the Petersons filed a motion with the district court for an order dismissing with prejudice the Housing Council and its cause of action “on the basis that [the Housing Council] does not have standing to maintain this action under [the former] N.D.C.C. §14.02.4-19....” The former § 14.02.4-19 specified who may bring a civil action to enforce the former NDHRA: “Any person claiming to be aggrieved by a discriminatory practice.in violation of this chapter with regard to housing or public accommodations or services may bring an action in the district court....” The former NDHRA defined “person” as follows: “ ‘Person’ means an individual, partnership, association, corporation.... ” N.D.C.C. § 14-02.4-02(11). The district court found that the Housing Council is “a non-profit corporation”; thus, the Housing Council is a person within the meaning of § 14-02.4-02(11). The Housing Council alleged in its first amended complaint that the Petersons’ alleged discriminatory housing practices caused the Council to suffer injuries in the form of economic losses in staff pay for investigations and in the inability to undertake other efforts to end unlawful housing practices. The Council also alleged injury to its ability to carry out its purpose and to serve the public in its effort to eliminate housing discrimination, resolve fair housing disputes, find and make available decent rental housing for persons regardless of status with respect to marriage, and assure rights to the important social, professional, business, economic, and political benefits of associations that arise from living in a community where persons reside regardless of marital status.
*568[¶ 65] Our seminal case on standing is State v. Carpenter, 801 N.W.2d 106, 107 (N.D.1980), in which a two-pronged test was established to determine whether a litigant has alleged such a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to justify the exercise of the court’s remedial powers to decide the merits of the dispute.6 First, the litigant must have suffered some threatened or actual injury resulting from the putatively illegal action. Id. (citing Linda R.S. v. Richard D., 410 U.S. 614, 617, 93 S.Ct. 1146, 35 L.Ed.2d 536 (1973)). Second, the asserted harm must not be a generalized grievance shared by all or a large class of citizens, that is, the litigant generally must assert his or her own legal rights and interests and cannot rest a claim to relief on the legal rights and interests of third parties. Id. (citing Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 499, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975)). Litigants may assert only their own constitutional rights, unless they can present weighty countervailing policies. Hovet v. Hebron Pub. Sch. Dist., 419 N.W.2d 189, 193 (N.D.1988).
[¶ 66] Previously, we have concluded a utility company had no standing to advance tribal sovereign rights of self-government for alleged unlawful interference with the tribe’s interests. In re Application of Otter Tail Power Co., 451 N.W.2d 95, 97 (N.D.1990); see also Swanson v. N.D. Workers Comp. Bureau, 553 N.W.2d 209, 212 (N.D.1996) (determining a claimant lacked standing to challenge the Bureau’s alleged lack of a statutorily required peer review system for determining reasonableness of fees and payment denials for unjustified treatments, because under the statute only doctors or health care providers could appeal adverse Bureau decisions regarding fee reasonableness and payment denials); State v. Tibor, 373 N.W.2d 877, 880-81 (N.D.1985) (concluding a criminal defendant had no standing to raise a vagueness challenge to a criminal statute, because he did not demonstrate the statute was vague as applied to his own conduct). But see State v. Hagerty, 1998 ND 122, ¶ 10, 580 N.W.2d 139 (stating a counterclaim defendant had standing to challenge the authority of special assistant attorneys general, who were retained by the Attorney General and State entities under contingent fee agreements, to prosecute litigation against the counterclaim defendant).
[¶ 67] Our standing test in the administrative context differs from the standing test set out in Carpenter, 301 N.W.2d at 107, but sheds light on the meaning of “aggrieved.” Our administrative standing inquiry was developed in the case of In re Application of Bank of Rhame, 231 N.W.2d 801, 806-08 (N.D.1975), because standing is necessary for judicial review through appeal of an administrative order. Faced with an issue of who was a proper party to seek review on appeal of an administrative decision, we expressly noted, “We should not and do not place a narrow or limited construction upon the appropriate statutory provisions governing who may be a party for purposes of appeal or *569review. The law on standing developed by earlier case law which was narrow and limited has been severely criticized.... ” Id. at 806. We explained that former N.D.C.C. § 28-32-14 provided, “[A]ny party before an administrative agency who is aggrieved by the decision” may request a rehearing, and we defined “party aggrieved” as “one whose right has been directly and injuriously affected by action of court.” Rhame, at 807-08. We specifically stated: “Any doubt on the question of standing involving a decision by an administrative body should be resolved in favor of permitting the exercise of the right of appeal by any person aggrieved in fact.” Id. at 808. Based on this expansive view of the standing doctrine, we enunciated our three-part standing test for administrative appeals: “[A]ny person who is directly interested in the proceedings before an administrative agency!,] who may be factually aggrieved by the decision of the agency, and who participates in the proceeding before such agency, is a ‘party’ to any proceedings for the purposes of taking an appeal from the d[e]cision.” Id.
[¶ 68] Under this three-part analysis, we have denied standing when litigants were not aggrieved in fact. Shark v. U.S. West Communications, Inc., 545 N.W.2d 194, 200 (N.D.1996). Shark appealed an administrative approval of the sale and transfer of telephone exchanges by U.S. West to cooperative and independent telephone companies. Id. at 195. We denied standing to Shark because he was not factually aggrieved, since he was a customer of a telephone exchange' which was not being transferred and did “not demonstrate how he will suffer economic injury or physical interference with his telephone service from this sale and transfer” of telephone exchanges of which he was not a customer. Id. at 195, 199-200. We reasoned, “The generalized interest [Shark] describes is shared with every other telephone customer anywhere, and any potential effect on him is so remote and speculative that there is no reasonable basis for judicial review of his claims.” Id. at 200. Thus, we found Shark had not shown the personal stake required for the adversarial position necessary for an actual case or controversy, as he made no plausible argument how he will either gain or lose anything from the transfer of telephone exchanges that do not furnish his telephone service. Id.; See also Vickery v. N.D. Workers Comp. Bureau, 545 N.W.2d 781, 783-85 (N.D.1996) (denying standing to a claimant who alleged the potential of injury rather than injury in fact, as remote possibilities and speculation of harm were insufficient to establish that he was factually aggrieved, and a nominal, formal, or technical interest in the action will not suffice).
[¶ 69] Conversely, we have concluded parties did have standing to appeal administrative decisions upon proof they hurdled the three-part test and were factually aggrieved. In re Juran & Moody, Inc., 2000 ND 136, ¶ 21, 613 N.W.2d 503; see also Trinity Med. Ctr. v. N.D. Bd. of Nursing, 399 N.W.2d 835, 836-38 (N.D.1987) (allowing. nursing school operators to challenge the constitutionality of a statute and administrative rules granting authority to the nursing board to discontinue nursing programs, after finding that affidavits alleging injury from the rules were sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss).
[¶ 70] The Housing.Council has alleged a personal stake in the outcome and actual injuries in fact, concrete and particularized, not remote or speculative. The Housing Council supported their allegations by relying on Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, 455 U.S. 363, 379, 102 S.Ct. 1114, 71 L.Ed.2d 214 (1982), which reversed the dismissal of housing discrimination claims by a similar fair housing council, explicitly *570holding the council alleged an injury in fact sufficient to meet standing as an aggrieved person under the federal Fair Housing Act. In Havens, the housing council claimed they had been “frustrated by ... racial steering practices in its efforts to assist equal access to housing through counseling and other referral services ... [and] has had to devote significant resources to identify and counteract [these] racially discriminatory steering practices.” Id. In view of these allegations, the Court stated, “[T]here can be no question that the organization has suffered injury in fact. Such concrete and demonstrable injury to the organization’s activities — with the consequent drain on the organization’s resources — constitutes far more than simply a setback to the organization’s abstract social interests.” Id. (citation omitted); see also Cent. Ala. Fair Housing Ctr., Inc. v. Lowder Realty Co., Inc., 236 F.3d 629, 640 (11th Cir.2000) (noting a majority of circuits have concluded, based on Havens, that a fair housing organization may recover in its own right for the diversion of its resources to combat housing discrimination under federal legislation).
[¶ 71] Here, the district court distinguished its ruling from the broad reach of Havens based on the legislative intent of the United States Congress “to exercise jurisdiction under the Federal Fair Housing Act to the fullest extent allowable.... ” This is not a distinction. The express legislative intent under this state’s Human Rights Act in effect at the time in question was “to prohibit discrimination on the basis of ... status with regard to marriage” and “to prevent and eliminate discrimination in ... housing.” N.D.C.C. § 14-02.4-01. The Housing Council’s allegations are very similar to those alleged in Havens. See Havens, 455 U.S. at 372, 102 S.Ct. 1114 (stating the housing council must allege a distinct and palpable injury resulting from the discriminatory conduct); see also Carpenter, 301 N.W.2d at 107 (conferring standing when litigants “have suffered some threatened or actual injury resulting from the putatively illegal action” and the harm must not be a generalized grievance shared by all or a large class of citizens). The Housing Council has alleged actual injuries, not a generalized grievance and not resting on rights and interests of third parties, by claiming the Petersons’ discriminatory practices frustrated the Council’s efforts and ability to pursue its mission and purposes to eliminate unlawful discrimination and forced the Council to devote significant resources to counteract the discriminatory conduct. See Shark, 545 N.W.2d at 200 (requiring allegations of either gaining or losing something, in order to establish a personal stake in the controversy, rather than a generalized grievance).
[¶ 72] The district court erred in relying on Shark, 545 N.W.2d at 198, to conclude the Housing Council’s “entire claim ... is dependent upon alleged violations of other people[’]s rights” and that without the Kippens the Housing Council would have only a theoretical claim of injury. Rather, Shark supports the Housing Council’s claim of being aggrieved in fact by the Petersons’ alleged housing discrimination. We determined Shark lacked standing because he failed to show he had suffered an actual and concrete injury, as opposed to an injury that is hypothetical, may occur in the future, and is contingent on other undetermined future events. See Shark, at 199-200 (holding Shark did not demonstrate how he will suffer economic injury or physical interference, and his generalized interest is shared with every other telephone customer anywhere, and any potential effect on him is remote and speculative). By contrast, the Housing Council has alleged actual, demonstrable injury to the Council’s financial and other interests.
*571[¶ 73] The district court granted the motion to dismiss under Rule 12, not a motion for summary judgment. As the United States Supreme Court determined:
At the pleading stage, general factual allegations of injury resulting from the defendant’s conduct may suffice [for purposes of establishing standing], for on a motion to dismiss, we “presum[e] that general allegations embrace those specific facts that are necessary to support the claim.” In response to a summary judgment motion, however, the plaintiff can no longer rest on such “mere allegations,” but must “set forth” by affidavit or other evidence “specific facts,’’which for purposes of the summary judgment motion will be taken to be true. And at the final stage, those facts (if controverted) must be “supported adequately by the evidence adduced at trial.”
Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992) (citations omitted).
[¶ 74] In another housing discrimination case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit noted the “critical distinction” between examining allegations in the context of a motion to dismiss for lack of standing versus in the context of a motion for summary judgment. Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia v. Montgomery Newspapers, 141 F.3d 71, 76 (3d Cir.1998). The Third Circuit affirmed summary judgment dismissing a fair housing council based on its failure to produce evidence to establish an actual injury: “While there is no dispute that the [Fair Housing Council’s] damage allegations track the language in Havens and were sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss, something more than these naked allegations was required at the summary judgment stage.” Montgomery Newspapers, at 76 (emphasis added). Furthermore, the housing council in Montgomery Newspapers failed to show that any staff time at all was expended to investigate the alleged discriminatory newspaper advertisements and failed to prove a palpable, demonstrable injury to the council’s activities. Id. at 78.
[¶ 75] Here, the Housing .Council has alleged actual injuries, similar to those in Havens, and thus sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12. The litigation was not at the summary judgment stage, which would require “something more than these naked allegations.” See Montgomery Newspapers, 141 F.3d at 76; see also N.D. Fair Housing Council, Inc. v. Woeste, Civ. No. A1-99-116 (D.N.D.2000) (stating allegations of an injury in fact are sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss under Havens, but “something more would be required to withstand a motion for summary judgment”); Alexander v. Riga, 208 F.3d 419, 427 n. 4 (3d Cir.2000) (holding a fair housing council was an aggrieved person and had standing when it alleged it conducted a prelitigation investigation including fair housing testing, stopped everything else and devoted all attention to this case, and diverted resources to investigate and to counter the discriminatory conduct); Spann v. Colonial Village, Inc., 899 F.2d 24, 27-29 (D.C.Cir.1990) (upholding standing for a fair housing council that devoted resources to investigating housing discrimination, which also necessitated increased educational efforts to counteract, and stating, “Like the organization in Havens, [the fair housing council] must ultimately prove at trial that the defendants’ illegal actions actually caused them to suffer the alleged injuries before they will be entitled to judicial relief.”).
[¶ 76] Because the Housing Council has alleged it has suffered actual injuries in fact resulting from the Petersons’ as*572serted illegal discrimination, and the injuries are not a generalized grievance but direct injuries to the Council’s resources, the district court erred in dismissing the Council for lack of standing under Rule 12. The reasoning in Rhame, 231 N.W.2d at 808, remains unchanged: “Any doubt on the question of standing ... should be resolved in favor of ... any person aggrieved in fact” when deciding a motion brought under Rule 12, N.D.R.Civ.P.
B
[¶ 77] The district court also erred in concluding the Housing Council was not a real party in interest under N.D.R.Civ.P. 17(a), which provides:
Every action must be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest.... No action may be dismissed on the ground that it is not prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest until a reasonable time has been allowed after the objection for ratification of commencement of the action by, or joinder or substitution of, the real party in interest. ...
A real party in interest is one with a real, actual, material, or substantial interest in the subject of an action, as opposed to one who has only a nominal, formal, or technical interest in or connection with the action. Froling v. Farrar, 77 N.D. 639, 642-43, 44 N.W.2d 763, 765 (1950). In Froling, the plaintiff and her husband were jointly conducting a collection agency and were mutually interested in the profits arising from this enterprise and would share in any benefits from the plaintiffs lawsuit to recover damages on an account assigned to her. Id. at 764-65. Although the plaintiffs husband was not named as a party, we determined that he in fact was a real party in interest, as he had a substantial interest in the subject of the action and in obtaining recovery, and properly might have been joined as a party plaintiff. Id. at 765.
[¶ 78] The Housing Council is a real party in interest to this lawsuit in that it asserts Petersons’ alleged discrimination caused the Council to devote resources to investigating and counteracting unlawful conduct and to divert resources from other educational and outreach activities. These direct injuries, if proven, would give the Housing Council a real, actual, material, or substantial interest in this action, not a mere nominal connection, as the Council is seeking recovery for its own injuries.
Ill
[¶ 79] The Petersons based their right to deny housing on the existence of the criminal statute dealing with unlawful cohabitation. The record is insufficient to apply that statute as a matter of law as the basis for the decision. I note the 2001 Legislative Assembly has passed a statute which, when it becomes effective, will deal directly with rental decisions like the one made by the Petersons. House Bill 1448 provides: “A new subsection to section 14-02.5-02 of the 1999 Supplement to the North Dakota Century Code is created and enacted as follows: Nothing in this chapter [N.D.C.C. ch. 14-02.5, Housing Discrimination] prevents a person from refusing to rent a dwelling to two unrelated individuals of opposite gender who are not married to each other.” H.B. 1448 (March 27, 2001). However, our review of this case must be based on the law in effect at the time the cause of action arose. For the reasons set forth above, I would reverse the summary judgment in favor of the Petersons and the dismissal of the Housing Council and remand for further proceedings.
[¶ 80] Carol Ronning Kapsner.

. Compare Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992) (establishing the "irreducible constitutional minimum of standing" contains three elements: (1) the plaintiff must have suffered an injury in fact, an invasion of a legally protected interest which is concrete and particularized and actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical; (2) the injury must be causally connected to the complained-of conduct, that is, the injury must be fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendant and not the result of an independent action of some third party who is not before the court; and (3) it must be likely, rather than merely speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision).