Court Opinion

ID: 9883773
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:18:17.102901+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:30.392650
License: Public Domain

LANSING, Judge
(dissenting).
I cannot agree. The majority opinion perpetuates an unjust result by failing to properly address three fatal deficiencies in the litigation.
First, Northwest Petroleum does not have standing to contest the bidding process, Fond du Lac’s qualifications as a bidder, or the alleged excesses in the administrative fee. No heating oil dealer directly submitted a bid or wanted to submit a bid. The standing issue should not be ignored by citing inapposite authority for requirements of a taxpayer’s suit.
Second, it is unfair to invalidate this attempt to extend the buying power of low-income heating assistance by finding violations of a bidding process which CAP was not required to follow in the first place. I cannot agree that Asch v. Housing & Redevelopment Authority of St. Paul, 256 Minn. 146, 97 N.W.2d 656 (1959), requires or supports such a holding.
Third, there has been no showing of irreparable harm which would warrant an injunction. If Northwest Petroleum has any compensable claim, it is reducible to money damages. Northwest Petroleum’s claim of economic detriment is prematurely injected into the bidding process. See Carlson-Lang Realty Company v. City of Windom, 307 Minn. 368, 374, 240 N.W.2d 517, 521 (1976).
The federal LIEAP legislation appropriating funds was designed to benefit low-income persons by providing them with the ability to obtain adequate heat during Minnesota winters. Northwest Petroleum’s standing and injunction seems to be premised on an idea that these federal expenditures were intended to benefit oil companies, which of course they were not.