citizen suit
citizen suit. An action under a statute giving citizens the right to sue violators of the law (esp. environmental law) and to seek injunctive relief and penalties. • In the 1970s, during the heyday of antipollution statutes such as the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, legislators believed that regulators sometimes become too close to the industries they oversee and, as a result, lack the aggressiveness that individual citizens bring to litigation. The statutes therefore authorize, among other things, “private attorneys general” (citizens) to protect the environment. This includes not only injunctions to stop pollution but also penalties to be paid to the U.S. Treasury. A federal plaintiff must sue under a statutory citizen-suit provision and also satisfy constitutional-standing requirements. See STANDING. [Cases: Environmental Law 20.]
