District of Columbia v. ExxonMobil Oil Corp.

The District sued the defendants in this case alleging a theory of standing that this division rejects: relying on Alfred L. Snapp & Son, Inc. v. Puerto Rico ex rel. Barez, 458 U.S. 592, 102 S.Ct. 3260, 73 L.Ed.2d 995 (1982), the District asserted it had “parens patriae standing based on its quasi-sovereign interest in the economic well-being of D.C.’s gasoline consumers and the gasoline market.” Although the burden to establish standing to sue is on the plaintiff, and injury to a quasi-sovereign interest under Snapp is the only theory of standing that the District ever advanced in the trial…