What Is Standing and How Is It Challenged

What Is Standing and How Is It Challenged

Standing is the ability for the prosecution to show an “injury in fact” to their own legal interests. Just because a party has standing does not mean that it will win the case; it just means that it has alleged a sufficient legal interest and injury to participate in the case. Standing is a constitutional requirement that requires a plaintiff prove that he or she is the right person to bring a lawsuit and that he or she is bringing the lawsuit at the right time. Subject-matter jurisdiction does not exist in the absence of constitutional standing.

In Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife (90-1424), 504 U.S. 555 (1992), the Supreme Court created a three-part test to determine whether a party has standing to sue:
  1. The plaintiff must have suffered an "injury in fact," meaning that the injury is of a legally protected interest which is:
    1. concrete and particularized and
    2. actual or imminent.
  2. There must be a causal connection between the injury and the conduct brought before the court.
  3. It must be likely, rather than speculative, that a favorable decision by the court will redress the injury.
NOTE: However, in recent years, New York courts have weakened the standing requirement by holding that any objection or defense based on lack of standing is waived if not asserted in an answer or pre-answer motion to dismiss.