11th Am’t immunity for private entities: Private entities who contract with the state to perform governmental services are not entitled to 11th Amendment immunity. Del Campo v. Kennedy, 2008 WL 320772 (9th Cir. Feb. 6, 2008).
Recusal: Judge Sedwick’s Order on Victor Kohring’s recusal motion is here. The Order contains Sedwick’s response to Kohring’s allegations, as well as the referral […]
Legislature may require injured state ferry workers to bring claims against the State to the Workers Comp Board, not to court.
In 2003, the Alaska legislature amended AS 09.50.250 and thereby a) restored the state’s sovereign immunity from suit by injured state-employed seamen (employees of the Alaska Marine Highway System), and b) referred claims by such employees […]
The Court’s opinion today in Glover v. State, DOTPF, MMHS, Op. No. 6222 (Alaska Jan. 18, 2008), covers important issues surrounding sovereign immunity (federal abrogation, constructive consent), pre-emption (discrimination against federal claims), access to courts, and Equal Protection. The Court (per Justice Carpeneti) compliments Superior Court Judge Patricia Collins by incorporating a major part of her […]
FMLA amendments: Congress has passed, and Pres. Bush is expected to sign, amendments to FMLA that will provide leave to servicemembers and their families. The details are discussed in Connecticut Employment Law Blog and the FMLA Blog.
NLRB policy shifts: K&L|Gates (soon to merge with Hughes & Luce) has published “Changing Course at the NLRB,” the first part of which […]
The 9th Circuit has joined four other circuits in holding that 42 USC § 1981 does not create a private right of action against a State defendant. The Court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that the 1991 Civil Rights Amendments added that remedy. The plaintiff relied upon an earlier panel’s opinion that the 1991 amendments created a […]
I. The Statutory Framework for 911 Immunity
AS 09.65.070. Suits against incorporated units of local government
(a) Except as provided in this section, an action may be maintained against a municipality in its corporate character and within the scope of its authority.
. . .
(c) An action may not be maintained against an employee or member of a […]
The Court of Appeals held this morning that the EEOC may not prosecute Title VII claims on behalf of several of ex-Governor Hickel’s policymaking assistants, Margaret Ward and Lydia Jones (now deceased). The Court (Noonan and Wallace) held that the 1991 Government Employee Rights Act was ineffective to waive the State’s sovereign immunity because it lacked a factual […]
The plaintiff in Felthauser v. United States claims that the VA took four years to respond to his request for copies of his medical records, and then sent the records to somebody else. When he sued for violations of the Privacy Act and HIPAA, the VA moved to dismiss.
Judge John Sedwick denied the VA’s limitations […]
