United States v. Triplett

In United States v. Triplett, 494 U.S. 715, 110 S.Ct. 1428, 108 L.Ed.2d 701 (1990), the Court found third-party standing where Department of Labor regulations imposed restrictions on attorney's fees in black lung benefit cases, allowing an attorney to invoke the rights of black lung claimants because the fee restriction deprived prospective clients of the right to obtain legal representation. 494 U.S. at 720, 110 S.Ct. 1428. The Court observed that it has found third-party standing when "enforcement of a restriction against the litigant prevents a third party from entering into a relationship with the litigant (typically a contractual relationship, to which relationship the third party has a legal entitlement typically a constitutional entitlement)." Id. Though this restriction was against the litigant, the Court did not limit its holding to this alignment of parties. See id.