NY Appellate Court Dismisses Mandamus Action for Lack of Standing

Eastview Properties, Inc. brought a mandamus action to compel the Town of Chester Planning Board to place a subdivision application on its agenda and render a determination on its application. Petitioners appealed from an order of the trial court which granted the motion of the Town of Chester Planning Board to dismiss the petition. The court noted that a party has standing where it has an interest in the claim at issue in the lawsuit that the law will recognize as a sufficient predicate for determining the issue at the litigant’s request. Where a claim of standing is based upon the adverse impact of challenged administrative action, a petitioner must show that he or she will suffer a harm that is in some way different from that suffered by the public at large and that the alleged injury falls within the zone of interest sought to be promoted or protected by the statute under which the government agency has acted. Here, the petitioners failed to make that showing and, therefore, failed to meet their burden of establishing that they had standing to commence this proceeding. Accordingly, the Supreme Court properly granted the motion of the respondent Town of Chester Planning Board to dismiss the petition.

Eastview Properties, Inc. v. Town of Chester Planning Bd, 2016 WL 1442248 (NYAD 2 Dept. 4/13/2016)