Who may bring an administrative action asking the court to confirm that an agency's failure to act is unlawful?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file for this exercise, we read the administrative application for the disposition itself, to see who signed it and when the agency received it, and the papers showing the applicant's position and what the failure to act has done to it.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes both conditions together: only a person who made the application for the disposition, and who also has a legal interest in a confirmation that the omission is unlawful, may bring the action, so a person affected by the omission who never applied for the disposition is outside the provision however great the effect on them.
Another reading notes that the provision fixes who may act but does not say what makes an interest a 'legal interest', nor how it treats a case where an application was made jointly, so the file has to show on its own facts which of the applicants satisfies the condition the provision sets.
Your judgment
Where the agency has simply not answered an application, what in the file would show that the applicant's interest in a confirmation of illegality is a legal one?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to add or remove a category of eligible plaintiff, or if a court decision sets out when the legal interest required here is present.