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Natural Resources Defense Council v. FDA

Topic(s): Federal Jurisdiction and Appellate Jurisdiction
Hazardous Substances and Environmental Protection

Documents:

Description:

In this case, a federal district court ruled that NRDC lacked standing to challenge the FDA's failure to regulate antibacterial soaps because NRDC's members, who faced a threat of injury from exposure to antibacterial soap in their workplaces, could just buy their own soap and take it to work with them. The court's holding that a person lacks standing to sue if she can avoid an injury by making an otherwise unnecessary expenditure of money, or changing her behavior in some other undesired way, is contrary to many court decisions and would severely restrict the circumstances in which plaintiffs in environmental, consumer health and safety, and many other types of cases could bring suit. Public Citizen, on behalf of itself and several other organizations, filed an amicus curiae brief in support of NRDC's appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit challenging the dismissal of the case.

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