Court Opinion

ID: 9843781
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:43:16.758332+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:55.319178
License: Public Domain

*789KAPSNER, Justice,
concurring in the result.
[¶ 26] I concur in the result, but disagree with the majority opinion to the extent that it suggests Whitecalfe and Berg arguably do not have standing.
[¶ 27] Standing is a threshold issue to determine whether the litigant is entitled to have the court decide the merits of the dispute. See Flatt v. Kantak, 2004 ND 173, ¶ 38, 687 N.W.2d 208 (quoting State v. Carpenter, 301 N.W.2d 106, 107 (N.D.1980)); Nodak Mut. Ins. Co. v. Ward County Farm Bureau, 2004 ND 60, ¶ 11, 676 N.W.2d 752 (quoting Rebel v. Nodak Mut. Ins. Co., 1998 ND 194, ¶ 8, 585 N.W.2d 811). The ultimate decision on the merits is generally not a factor when addressing whether the court has jurisdiction to hear it. See, e.g., Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 523 U.S. 83, 88-90, 118 S.Ct. 1003, 140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998) (citing Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 682, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946)). As the majority correctly noted, standing requires a two-pronged analysis. See Flatt, at ¶ 38, 687 N.W.2d 208. “ ‘First, the plaintiff must have suffered some threatened or actual injury resulting from the putatively illegal action.’ ” Id.; accord Linda R.S. v. Richard D., 410 U.S. 614, 617, 93 S.Ct. 1146, 35 L.Ed.2d 536 (1973). Second, the harm must not be a generalized grievance. Flatt, at ¶ 38, 687 N.W.2d 208. The majority concludes Whitecalfe and Berg may not have standing because they did not suffer a due process injury as the result of not having the probable cause information before requesting a hearing because they requested a hearing. See majority opinion, at ¶ 17. The majority misconstrues the standing test.
[¶ 28] As this Court stated in Carpenter, 301 N.W.2d at 107:
Without the limitation of the standing requirements, the courts would be called upon to decide purely abstract questions. As an aspect of justiciability, the standing requirement focuses upon whether the plaintiff has alleged such a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to justify exercise of the court’s remedial powers on his behalf.
[¶ 29] For Whitecalfe and Berg, the issue of whether their due process rights were violated is not an abstract question. Whitecalfe and Berg argue due process requires that they receive the officer’s probable cause statement before they have to decide whether to ask for a hearing. Whitecalfe and Berg did not get the probable cause statement before making the decision to request a hearing. Therefore, if due process did require the State to provide them with the probable cause statement before they made the decision to request a hearing, they were injured. Our holding that due process does not require the State to provide individuals with the officer’s probable cause statement before they make a decision, so long as the information is provided sufficiently in advance of the hearing, does not eliminate White-calfe and Berg’s standing to raise the due process issue.
[¶ 30] Carol Ronning Kapsner