Stanley Smith v. Mike BeebeStanley Smith v. Mike Beebe
Jenny Smith lived in an Arkansas nursing home. In September 1993, she was not properly secured in her bed and fell, causing head trauma and other injuries that led to her incapacity for several months. Jenny died in December 1994. A year later, Stanley Smith, executor of Jenny‘s estate, brought a medical malpractice lawsuit against the nursing home. An Arkansas state court held the lawsuit was barred by the two-year medical injury statute of limitations.
Sovereign immunity deprives federal courts of jurisdiction over lawsuits brought by private citizens against states unless the state has waived its immunity or Congress has abrogated the state‘s immunity under a valid exercise of Congressional power. Here, the States of Arkansas has not consented to be sued in the federal courts, Burk v. Beene, 948 F.2d 489, 492-93 (8th Cir.1991), and Congress did not abrogate the states’ sovereign immunity when it enacted
Smith appeals asserting the exceptions to sovereign immunity should be broadened to encompass his situation. We lack authority to do so. Although Congress may abrogate the states’ sovereign immunity, we are bound by the Supreme Court‘s holding in Will that Congress did not do so when it enacted § 1983. Further, the limited exemption to sovereign immunity in Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908), does not apply here because the state attorney general has no special relation to the tolling provision challenged by Smith. See Children‘s Healthcare is a Legal Duty, Inc. v. Deters, 92 F.3d 1412, 1415-16 (6th Cir.1996); Sherman v. Community Consolidated Sch. Dist., 980 F.2d 437, 440-41 (7th Cir.1992); Long v. Van de Kamp, 961 F.2d 151, 152 (9th Cir.1992) (per curiam); Rode v. Dellarciprete, 845 F.2d 1195, 1208 (3d Cir.1988).
Because Smith‘s claims against the State and its attorney general are barred by sovereign immunity, we affirm the district court‘s dismissal of Smith‘s lawsuit.