Citizen suit

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A citizen suit is a lawsuit by a private citizen to enforce a statute.

Citizen suits come in two forms. In the more common form, a private citizen can bring a lawsuit against a citizen, corporation, or government body for engaging in conduct prohibited by the statute. For example, a citizen can sue a corporation under the Clean Water Act for illegally polluting a waterway. In the less common form, a private citizen can bring a lawsuit against a government body for failing to perform a nondiscretionary duty. For example, a private citizen could sue the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to promulgate regulations that the Clean Water Act required it to promulgate.

In 1970, with the Clean Air Act 1970, the United States Congress began including specific provisions for citizens to bring suit against violators or government agencies to enforce environmental laws. Today most environmental laws have provisions for citizen suits and they have become a major means of ensuring compliance with environmental laws. Some non-environmental statutes, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Amendments Act, also contain citizen suit provisions, but the majority of regulatory statutes do not.

On occasion, even when a statute does not contain an express provision allowing citizens to bring suit to enforce the statute, courts have found that the statute creates an implied right for them to do so. See, for example, J.I. Case Co. v. Borak, 377 U.S. 426 (1964).

Environmental laws that allow citizen suits include:

Endangered Species Act 1973

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