Court Opinion

ID: 9936747
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 18:58:38.245857+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:32:56.676145
License: Public Domain

I concur in the affirmance of the trial court's judgment holding a portion of the city's sign ordinance unconstitutional. However, I question whether the issue of standing must be raised before the trial court. I note that the Court of Criminal Appeals has indeed held that the issue of standing must be raised before the trial court or else is waived on appeal,see Cook v. State, 574 So.2d 905, 908
(Ala.Crim.App. 1990), and I agree that the application of that principle, if it is correct, bars the City's argument in this case. However, if, as has often been stated, an appellate court "will not pass upon a constitutional question unless some specific right of the appellant is directly involved," Statev. Woodruff, 460 So.2d 325, 328 (Ala.Crim.App. 1984), then I question whether it is incumbent upon a party to raise before the trial court the issue of standing to challenge the constitutionality of a statute. See Kinard v. Jordan,646 So.2d 1380, 1383 n. 5 and 1388 (Ala. 1994) (stating that the trial court should not have reached the constitutional issue and reversing the judgment based on that issue).