Case Law Details
1000 Friends of Wisconsin v. USDOT
Project Description:
The project involved the proposed widening of a 19-mile segment of Wisconsin State Highway 23. FHWA and Wisconsin DOT (WisDOT) prepared a Draft EIS for the project in 2004 and a Supplemental Draft EIS in 2009. The agencies issued a Final EIS in June 2010 and a ROD in September 2010. After the lawsuit was filed, the agencies prepared a limited-scope Supplemental EIS to address new traffic projects, and issued a Final SEIS and ROD in March 2014.
860 F.3d 480
860 F.3d 480
U.S. Court of Appeals – 7th Circuit
06/19/2017
Highway 23
Highway
Case Summary
In 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin ruled that the EIS analysis of traffic forecasts was flawed and vacated the ROD. On remand, the agencies prepared a revised technical memorandum with additional details about how traffic estimates had been generated. In 2016, the district court ruled that the revised technical memorandum was inadequate, and denied the agencies’ request to reinstate the ROD. WisDOT, but not FHWA, then appealed that order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The appellate court held that WisDOT lacked standing to appeal the district court’s order because FHWA had chosen not to appeal.
Key Holdings
Litigation Procedure
Standing to Appeal. The court agreed that WisDOT satisfied two of the three required elements of standing—injury and causation—because it suffered a concrete injury (in the form of lost federal funding for the project) caused by the district court’s order vacating the ROD. But the court concluded that the third required element of standing—redressability—was not met because the court could not redress WisDOT’s injury without USDOT joining the appeal. The court explained that the only relief ordered by the district court—vacating the ROD—was directed against USDOT, not WisDOT. Because USDOT did not appeal, it remained bound by the district court judgment, and the appellate court could not order the district court to reinstate the ROD. “This court therefore lacks authority to disturb the order against USDOT whether or not we are persuaded by the state’s arguments. As long as USDOT remains bound, nothing this court says could unlock the federal Treasury for the Route 23 project.” Without an injury that could be redressed by the appellate court, WisDOT lacked standing to appeal the district court order.
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