Opinion

City of Mobile v. Weinacker

  • 720 So. 2d 953
  • 1998 WL 178795
Court
Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama
Filed
Apr 17, 1998
Status
Published
Author
Crawley
On the bench
Crawley, Monroe
Cited by
5 cases
Authority
More cited than 15.1%

The opinion

I concur in the affirmance of the trial court's judgment holding a portion of the city's sign ordinance unconstitutional. However, I question whether the issue of standing must be raised before the trial court. I note that the Court of Criminal Appeals has indeed held that the issue of standing must be raised before the trial court or else is waived on appeal, see Cook v. State , 574 So.2d 905 , 908

(Ala.Crim.App. 1990), and I agree that the application of that principle, if it is correct, bars the City's argument in this case. However, if, as has often been stated, an appellate court "will not pass upon a constitutional question unless some specific right of the appellant is directly involved," State v. Woodruff , 460 So.2d 325 , 328 (Ala.Crim.App. 1984), then I question whether it is incumbent upon a party to raise before the trial court the issue of standing to challenge the constitutionality of a statute. See Kinard v. Jordan , 646 So.2d 1380 , 1383 n. 5 and 1388 (Ala. 1994) (stating that the trial court should not have reached the constitutional issue and reversing the judgment based on that issue).

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.