Also known as: citizen suit provision · citizen suits provision · citizen suits provisions · citizen suit · citizen suits
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Statutory authorizations that permit private individuals to initiate enforcement actions for violations of public rights. These provisions typically allow suits for injunctive relief and penalties payable to the government even when the plaintiff has not suffered harm different in kind from the general public. They operate as an exception to the common-law requirement of special injury for public-nuisance abatement.
Christopher Collins, a frequent visitor to a wildlife refuge, sues a federal agency under a citizen-suit provision alleging that the agency failed to follow statutory consultation procedures. Collins alleges only that the procedural violation harms his interest in proper government administration and that he shares this interest with all citizens. The court dismisses the action because the asserted injury is not concrete and particularized.
Cobalt Energy discharges pollutants into interstate waters in violation of a federal permit. The state attorney general brings a common-law nuisance action, but Cobalt moves to dismiss on preemption grounds. The court holds that the federal statute's citizen-suit savings clause expressly preserves private enforcement rights, allowing a citizen plaintiff to proceed under the statutory provision even though the state common-law claim is displaced.
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No. A citizen suit statute cannot create standing where the plaintiff lacks a concrete and particularized injury. Generalized grievances shared equally by all citizens, such as an interest in having the government follow the law, remain insufficient under Article III even when Congress has authorized citizen suits.
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A citizen suit provision supplies the independent statutory authority that permits a private plaintiff to seek abatement of a public nuisance without proving harm different in kind from that suffered by the general public. Absent such a provision or a certified class action, the plaintiff must still demonstrate special injury to proceed individually.
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Public officials or agencies authorized to represent the state or a political subdivision may seek injunctive relief without showing special injury. Private individuals may sue only if they suffer harm different in kind from the general public.
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…Act as a whole does not supplant formerly available federal common-law actions but only that the particular section authorizing citizen suits does not do so. No one, however, maintains that the citizen-suit provision pre-empts federal common law. We are thus not persuaded that § 505 (e) aids respondents in this case, even…