Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Michigan

Re: subject

First of all, thank you very much for what you do every working day - it IS appreciated.

Novel theory that you have. Who knows whether it would prevail . . . witness the problems that the plaintiffs have experienced in the tobacco/asbestos/firearm lawsuits. Many trial balloons were floated, thousands of articles published, and many, many issue proponents, such as yourself, bringing the issue to the public floor.

As to whether a teacher could be a plaintiff - that is a much tougher question. Consider the jurisprudential issue of "standing." Standing is a party's right to make a legal claim or seek judicial enforcement of a duty or right. To have standing, a plaintiff must show (1) that the challenged conduct has caused the plaintiff actual injury, and (2) that the interest sought to be protected is within the zone of interests meant to be regulated by the statutory or constitutional guarantee in question.

Now, there is such a thing as "third party standing" which is standing held by someone claiming to protect the rights of others - say your students.

The children that have been affected by fetal alcohol/drug are the injured and suit would be brought in their name. The teacher, I do not believe, would have the required standing to bring such a suit as the plaintiff.

But could you make things happen? Absolutely! Pounding the drums is a tiring but necessary part of affecting this kind of social change.

In my opinion.

Tom Weiss