Community Care Health Plan of Neb. v. Jackson, 317 Neb. 141

Healthy Blue (Community Care Health Plan of Nebraska, Inc.) was an unsuccessful bidder for Nebraska's Medicaid managed care program contracts and challenged the award process in court.
Healthy Blue first challenged the contract awards through administrative channels, but its bid protest and subsequent request for reconsideration were both denied by Nebraska DHHS.
Healthy Blue sued the state officials (in their official capacities) and the winning bidders in Lancaster County district court, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief under the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act (UDJA), claiming taxpayer standing and interest as a disappointed bidder.
The State Officials moved to dismiss, arguing, among other things, lack of standing and that sovereign immunity barred the claims. The district court disagreed, finding Healthy Blue had adequately pled taxpayer standing and that sovereign immunity did not bar the official-capacity claims.
The State Officials later moved for summary judgment, again arguing sovereign immunity and lack of standing. The court denied the motion, so the State Officials appealed, asserting appellate jurisdiction based on an alleged denial of sovereign immunity.
The Nebraska Supreme Court examined whether it had jurisdiction to hear the interlocutory appeal under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-1902(1)(d), which allows appeals of denied summary judgment motions based on sovereign immunity claims.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Does the court have jurisdiction under § 25-1902(1)(d) for this appeal?	State Officials' motion not actually based on sovereign immunity—just references it	Motion is based on sovereign immunity as an underlying principle limiting taxpayer suits	No jurisdiction; motion not truly about immunity
Does sovereign immunity bar Healthy Blue's UDJA claims?	Official-capacity suits seeking to enjoin unlawful acts aren't barred	Claims really seek relief against the State itself, thus are barred by sovereign immunity	Not barred; these are official-capacity actions
Does the UDJA provide taxpayer standing in this setting?	UDJA allows taxpayer standing distinct from APA's requirements	UDJA must be narrowly construed; no express provision for bidder/taxpayer standing	Taxpayer standing adequately pled
Was the district court correct in its standing analysis?	Yes; distinguished from Griffith due to differences between UDJA and APA	No; Griffith implies limits to standing in these contexts	District court's approach affirmed as correct

Griffith v. Nebraska Dept. of Corr. Servs., 304 Neb. 287 (2019) (discussed limits of taxpayer standing under APA vs. UDJA)
Clark v. Sargent Irr. Dist., 311 Neb. 123 (2022) (final order for summary judgment must substantively assert sovereign immunity)
Simpson v. Lincoln Public Schools, 316 Neb. 246 (2024) (look to substance of motion, not mere reference, to determine sovereign immunity appeal)
Heist v. Nebraska Dept. of Corr. Servs., 312 Neb. 480 (2022) (official-capacity claims for unlawful acts not barred by sovereign immunity)