Skip to main content
DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Pennell v. City of San Jose, 485 U.S. 1 (1988)

Citation
Pennell v. City of San Jose, 485 U.S. 1 (1988)
Parent Document
Pennell v. City of San Jose, 485 U.S. 1 (1988)
Effective Date
1988-02-24

Other Sections in This Document (112)

Full Text

1,821 chars
Before we turn to the merits of appellants' contentions we consider the claim of appellees that appellants lack standing to challenge the constitutionality of the Ordinance. The original complaint in this action states that appellant Richard Pennell "is an owner and lessor of 109 rental units in the City of San Jose." Appellant Tri-County Apartment House Owners Association (Association) is said to be "an unincorporated association organized for the purpose of representing the interests of the owners and lessors of real property located in the City of San Jose." App. 2-3. The complaint also states that the real property owned by appellants is "subject to the terms of" the Ordinance. But, appellees point out, at no time did appellants allege that either Pennell or any member of the Association has "hardship tenants" who might trigger the Ordinance's hearing process, nor did they specifically allege that they have been or will be aggrieved by the determination of a hearing officer that a certain proposed rent increase is unreasonable on the ground of tenant hardship. As appellees put it, "[a]t this point in time, it is speculative" *7 whether any of the Association's members will be injured in fact by the Ordinance's tenant hardship provisions. Thus, appellees contend, appellants lack standing under either the test for individual standing, see, e. g., Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church & State, Inc., 454 U. S. 464, 472 (1982) (individual standing requires an " `actual injury redressable by the court' "), or the test for associational standing, see Hunt v. Washington Apple Advertising Comm'n, 432 U. S. 333, 343 (1977) (an association has standing on behalf of its members only when "its members would otherwise have standing to sue in their own right").[3]