Town of Cedar Bluff v. Citizens Caring for Children

• Decision Date: 30 December 2004
• Docket Number: No. 1030785.,1030785.
• Citation: 904 So.2d 1253
• Parties: TOWN OF CEDAR BLUFF and Mayor Bob Davis v. CITIZENS CARING FOR CHILDREN and Carl Green.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

904 So.2d 1253

TOWN OF CEDAR BLUFF and Mayor Bob Davis v. CITIZENS CARING FOR CHILDREN and Carl Green.

No. 1030785.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

December 30, 2004.

Richard J.R. Raleigh, Jr., P. Michael Cole, and S. Dagnal Rowe of Wilmer & Lee, P.A., Huntsville; and Stephen Ralph Windom, Montgomery, for appellants.

Timothy S. Bell, Montgomery, for appellees.

Mary Ellen Wyatt Harrison, Montgomery, for amicus curiae Alabama League of Municipalities, in support of the appellants.

NABERS, Chief Justice.

The Town of Cedar Bluff and its mayor, Bob Davis, defendants in an action filed by Citizens Caring for Children and Carl Green, appeal from the judgment entered against them, arguing that the plaintiffs lack standing and that the trial court erred in declaring Act No. 2003-362 unconstitutional. We reverse and remand.

I.

In 2002, the Legislature requested from the Justices of this Court an advisory opinion as to whether Senate Bill 539 ("S.B. 539"), which was then pending before the Legislature, violated certain provisions of the Alabama Constitution. S.B. 539 purported to permit a municipality in Cherokee County with a population of not less than 1,300 inhabitants and not more than 1,500 inhabitants to determine by a local-option election whether alcoholic beverages could be legally sold and distributed within the municipality. At the time S.B. 539 was pending, Cherokee County was a "dry" county. Though not obliged to do so,¹ this Court considered the request and, in an advisory opinion signed by the Chief Justice and all of the Associate Justices, answered that S.B. 539, if enacted, would violate § 105, Ala. Const.1901. See Opinion of the Justices No. 376, 825 So.2d 109 (Ala.2002).

Advisory opinions issued by this Court are not binding, and on June 16, 2003, the Legislature enacted Senate Bill 350 ("S.B. 350"), which became Act No. 2003-362, Ala. Acts 2003. S.B. 350 was substantially identical to S.B. 539, the only significant difference being that the Legislature added to S.B. 350 a section acknowledging this Court's advisory opinion on S.B. 539 but disagreeing with the conclusion reached in the advisory opinion and concluding that S.B. 350 was a constitutional exercise of the power granted the Legislature by § 104, Ala. Const.1901, "as a matter of law." Shortly after Act No. 2003-362 became law, the Town of Cedar Bluff, a municipality in Cherokee County with a population of more than 1,300 and less than 1,500 inhabitants, scheduled a local-option election for August 12, 2003, at which its residents would be allowed to vote on the issue whether to allow alcoholic beverages to be legally sold and distributed within the town.

On August 8, 2003, Carl Green, a resident of Cedar Bluff, and Citizens Caring for Children ("the CCC")² sued the Town of Cedar Bluff and its mayor, Bob Davis, alleging that Act No. 2003-362 was unconstitutional and that the results of any election held pursuant to the act would be void. Green and the CCC also sought an emergency injunction to prevent the election. They were unable to obtain an injunction, however, and the election was held on August 12, 2003, as scheduled. Eight hundred and eighty-eight citizens of Cedar Bluff voted in the election: 649 citizens voted in favor of allowing alcohol sales and 239 citizens voted against it.

On August 15, 2003, with the consent of the parties, the trial court entered an order staying alcohol sales in Cedar Bluff until the trial court ruled on the merits of the action filed by Green and the CCC. On October 20, 2003, after considering the briefs of the parties and hearing oral argument, the trial court entered a judgment (1) declaring Act No. 2003-362 to be unconstitutional; (2) declaring the August 12, 2003, election void; and (3) enjoining Cedar Bluff from issuing any licenses authorizing the sale of alcohol based on the results of the August 12 election. Cedar Bluff and Mayor Davis appeal.

II.

The parties agreed to a joint stipulation of facts, and no other evidence was presented to the trial court.

"[W]here the facts before the trial court are essentially undisputed and the controversy involves questions of law for the court to consider, the court's judgment carries no presumption of correctness. Beavers v. County of Walker, 645 So.2d 1365 (Ala.1994). Because no material facts are disputed and this appeal focuses on the application of the law to the facts, no presumption of correct[ness] is accorded to the trial court's judgment. Therefore, we review de novo the application of the law to the facts of this case. Beavers, supra; Lake Forest Property Owners' Ass'n v. Smith, 571 So.2d 1047 (Ala.1990)."

Allstate Ins. Co. v. Skelton, 675 So.2d 377, 379 (Ala.1996).

III.

Cedar Bluff and Mayor Davis (hereinafter referred to collectively as "the Town of Cedar Bluff") argue that the judgment of the trial court should be reversed, first, because Green and the CCC failed to establish that they had standing to challenge Act No. 2003-362 and, second, because, they argue, Act No. 2003-362 does not violate the Alabama Constitution. Because a finding that Green and the CCC lack standing would divest the trial court of subject-matter jurisdiction and would obviate the need to consider the constitutionality of Act No. 2003-362, we consider that argument first. See State v. Property at 2018 Rainbow Drive, 740 So.2d 1025, 1028 (Ala.1999) ("When a party without standing purports to commence an action, the trial court acquires no subject-matter jurisdiction.").

"To say that a person has standing is to say that that person is the proper party to bring the action. To be a proper party, the person must have a real, tangible legal interest in the subject matter of the lawsuit." Doremus v. Business Council of Alabama Workers' Comp. Self-Insurers Fund, 686 So.2d 252, 253 (Ala.1996). "Standing ... turns on `whether the party has been injured in fact and whether the injury is to a legally protected right.'" 2018 Rainbow Drive, 740 So.2d at 1027 (quoting Romer v. Board of County Comm'rs of the County of Pueblo, 956 P.2d 566, 581 (Colo.1998) (Kourlis, J., dissenting)) (emphasis omitted). In the absence of such an injury, there is no case or controversy for a court to consider. Therefore, were a court to make a binding judgment on an underlying issue in spite of absence of injury, it would be exceeding the scope of its authority and intruding into the province of the Legislature. See City of Daphne v. City of Spanish Fort, 853 So.2d 933, 942 (Ala.2003) ("The power of the judiciary ... is `the power to declare finally the rights of the parties, in a particular case or controversy ....'" (quoting Ex parte Jenkins, 723 So.2d 649, 656 (Ala.1998))); Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 752, 104 S.Ct. 3315, 82 L.Ed.2d 556 (1984) ("[T]he law of Art. III standing is built on a single basic idea — the idea of separation of powers.").

In Jones v. Black, 48 Ala. 540 (1872), this Court first articulated a test for determining whether a party has the necessary standing to challenge the constitutionality of an act of the Legislature. We stated then:

"A party who seeks to have an act of the legislature declared unconstitutional, must not only show that he is, or will be injured by it, but he must also show how and in what respect he is or will be injured and prejudiced by it. Injury will not be presumed; it must be shown."

48 Ala. at 543. In Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board v. Henri-Duval Winery, LLC, 890 So.2d 70, 74 (Ala.2003), a party challenged the constitutionality of Alabama's Native Farm Winery Act, § 28-6-1 et seq., Ala.Code 1975. In that case, this Court effectively restated the standard articulated in Jones, using language adopted from the Supreme Court of the United States:

"A party establishes standing to bring a challenge [on constitutional grounds] when it demonstrates the existence of (1) an actual, concrete and particularized `injury in fact' — `an invasion of a legally protected interest'; (2) a `causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of; and (3) a likelihood that the injury will be `redressed by a favorable decision.' Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61, (1992)."³

(Emphasis added.)

Green and the CCC argue that they have standing to challenge Act No. 2003-362 based on two separate injuries. First, they argue that the holding of the local-option election itself constituted an "injury in fact," and, second, they argue that further injuries are imminent if the result of that election is upheld and alcohol sales are introduced to Cedar Bluff.

Regarding their first argument, Green and the CCC state that citizens and voters have a "universally accepted" and legally protected right to valid elections. Therefore, they argue, citizens and voters, including Green and the CCC, suffer an injury when an invalid election is held as the result of an unconstitutional statute. However, this allegation, without more, is insufficient to establish an injury because Green and the CCC have failed to state with "particularity" in what respect they were injured by the fact that the election was held — they have merely made the conclusory allegation that the election caused an injury because it was allegedly unconstitutional. See Henri-Duval Winery, 890 So.2d at 74 (a plaintiff seeking to establish standing must demonstrate "an actual, concrete and particularized injury in fact").

Green and the CCC have also argued that it would be irrational for this Court to hold that a qualified elector, such as Green, did not have standing to challenge the question to be voted upon in an election when, they say, that same elector has statutory standing to challenge the election itself. This argument is apparently based on an erroneous interpretation of § 17-15-1, Ala.Code 1975, which provides:

"The election of any person declared elected to the office of Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Attorney General, Commissioner of

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