Struggling to Stay Standing: Circuit Courts’ Varying Approaches to Civil Rights Testers and Article III Standing Requirements

On February 15, 2023, in Laufer v. Naranda Hotels, LLC, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a public accommodations tester possessed Article III standing to bring a claim against a hotel for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In doing so, the Fourth Circuit equalized the sides of a growing conflict among circuit courts concerning the proper approach to ADA testers’ ability to satisfy the constitutional requirements for standing. This Comment argues that the conclusions of the First, Fourth, and Eleventh Circuits recognizing that an ADA tester plaintiff has standing are correct and most effective in protecting the legislative purpose of the ADA and other civil rights laws. Further, this Comment argues that the approaches taken by the First, Fourth, and Eleventh Circuits offer two distinct pathways that demonstrate how an adherence to precedent supports a finding that an ADA tester plaintiff has standing.