National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, St. Johns Inc. v. Board of County Commissioners

376 F.3d 1292, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 14577, 2004 WL 1574611
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 15, 2004
Docket03-14690
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 376 F.3d 1292 (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, St. Johns Inc. v. Board of County Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, St. Johns Inc. v. Board of County Commissioners, 376 F.3d 1292, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 14577, 2004 WL 1574611 (11th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

RICHARD MILLS, District Judge:

I. BACKGROUND

This case centers on Appellee Board of County Commissioners of St. John’s Coun *1294 ty (the “Board”) decision not to fund what would have been the first mental health residential treatment facility (“RTF”) in St. Johns County, Florida. The RTF would have been located at 38 Arenta Street in St. Augustine, Florida. On April 18, 2000, the Board heard public comment on the proposed Arenta Street facility and considered various parking, fire code, and traffic issues prior to its decision. The Board subsequently voted against leasing or funding the facility.

On September 19, 2001, Sean O’Hearn and A.A. (two mentally ill residents of St. Johns County), along with A.A.’s parents B.B. and C.C., the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, St. John’s Inc. (“NAMI-St. Johns”), and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Florida, Inc.-Jaeksonville (“NAMI-Jax”) (collectively “the Appellants”) sued the Board. Among other things, the Appellants alleged that the Board’s decision not to fund the Arenta Street facility violated the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”), § 3601 et seq., the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq., and their Fourteenth Amendment right to due process and equal protection, U.S. CONST, amend XIV, § 2.

The Board moved for summary judgment on the Appellants’ claims and, on August 14, 2003, Hon. Wayne E. Alley, U.S. District Judge, Middle District of Florida, entered a seventy-six page summary judgment order dismissing the Appellants’ case. The district court determined that the Appellants lacked standing to sue and failed to establish violations of the FHA, the Rehabilitation Act, the ADA, and the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Appellants timely appealed the district court’s decision.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The Court reviews a summary judgment ruling de novo, “view[ing] the evidence and all factual inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion.” See Burton v. City of Belle Glade, 178 F.3d 1175, 1186-87 (11th Cir. 1999). A summary judgment motion should be granted when “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 the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c).

III. ANALYSIS

Article III of the United States Constitution limits the power of federal courts to adjudicating actual “cases” and “controversies.” U.S. Const, art. Ill, § 2, cl. 1. The most significant case-or-controversy doctrine is the requirement of standing. See Georgia State Conference of NAACP Branches v. Cox, 183 F.3d 1259, 1262 (11th Cir.1999). “In essence the question of standing is whether the litigant is entitled to have the court decide the merits of the dispute or of particular issues.” Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975).

The party who invokes federal jurisdiction must establish that it has standing to assert its claim. See Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). There are at least three distinct forms of standing: taxpayer standing, individual standing, and organizational standing. See Women’s Emergency Network v. Bush, 323 F.3d 937, 943 (11th Cir.2003)(citing Doremus v. Bd. of Educ. of Hawthorne, 342 U.S. 429, 434, 72 S.Ct. 394, 397, 96 L.Ed. 475 (1952), Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, *1295 2136, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992), Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, 455 U.S. 363, 378-79, 102 S.Ct. 1114, 1124, 71 L.Ed.2d 214 (1982)). To establish standing under any one of these, a party must “demonstrate that he has suffered ‘injury in fact,’ that the injury is ‘fairly traceable’ to the actions of the defendant, and that the injury will likely be redressed by a favorable decision.” See Bennett v. Spear, 520 U.S. 154, 162, 117 S.Ct. 1154,137 L.Ed.2d 281 (1997) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

Since the Appellants initiated this suit, they have the burden of establishing that the Appellees injured them via a violation of the FHA, the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, or the Fourteenth Amendment. To establish an injury under any one of these, the Appellants had to show that the Appellees implemented or enforced housing policies against them in a discriminatory manner. See 42 U.S.C.A. § 3604(f), 42 U.S.C.A. § 12132, 29 U.S.C. § 701, U.S. CONST, amend XIY, § 2. As such, Appellants O’Hearn and A.A. would have to show that they were qualified to live in a group home, sought to do so, and were impermissibly rejected by the Board.

At best, O’Hearn asserts that he might have opted to live in a group home had he been given the opportunity to do so and A.A. asserts that he might be a candidate for group home living if his situation were to change such that he could no longer live by himself. Assertions about what might happen do not establish an injury that is “concrete and particularized.” See Lujan, 504 U.S. at 560, 112 S.Ct. at 2136. Thus, O’Hearn and A.A. lack standing.

A.A.’s lack of standing means that Appellants B.B. and C.C. also lack standing. Since the Board never deprived B.B. or C.C. of any of their rights, B.B. and C.C. could only have standing as third-party litigants. In Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 96 S.Ct. 2868, 49 L.Ed.2d 826 (1976), the Supreme Court recognized the right of litigants to bring actions on behalf of third parties so long as three criteria are satisfied. The litigant must have suffered an “injury in fact,” that gives him or her a “sufficiently concrete interest” in the outcome of the dispute; the litigant must have a close relation to the third party; and there must exist some hindrance to the third party’s ability to protect his or her own interests. Id. at 112-116, 96 S.Ct. at 2873-2875.

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Bluebook (online)
376 F.3d 1292, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 14577, 2004 WL 1574611, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-alliance-for-the-mentally-ill-st-johns-inc-v-board-of-county-ca11-2004.