Opinion ID: 171635
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Brown's Proceedings Were Ongoing

Text: The State of Kansas clearly affords an opportunity for judicial review of [an administrative agency's] final order. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 77-613(b). In performing its judicial review function, a state court shall grant relief if, among other things, the agency has erroneously interpreted or applied the law. Id. § 77-621(c)(4). Kansas state courts, therefore, have jurisdiction to review Brown's federal claims namely, her challenge to the HPA's decision as a violation of federal Medicaid law. For a federal court to intervene before Kansas state courts have had a chance to review the HPA's final order would cast doubt on the ability of Kansas courts to correct the agency's alleged violation of federal law. Moreover, the intervention would undermine state courts' legitimate function of reviewing decisions of Kansas administrative agencies. Finally, the intervention duplicates to some extent the proceedings before the HPA. For all of these reasons, the district court was correct to abstain, and I would affirm that decision. I recognize that my approach to Younger abstention may leave Brown without a remedy here. The time to appeal her administrative proceedings to Kansas state courts has long since run. But see Brown v. Day, No. 06-2212, 2006 WL 3087111, at  n. 7 (D.Kan. Oct.27, 2006) (Because Kansas law recognizes the unique circumstances doctrine, ... it may be possible for plaintiff to resurrect her state claim.) (citing In re Appeal of Sumner County, 261 Kan. 307, 930 P.2d 1385, 1388 (Kan.1997)). As the Supreme Court explained, however, a federal litigant may not avoid the standards of Younger by simply failing to comply with the procedures of perfecting its appeal within the [state] judicial system. Huffman, 420 U.S. at 611 n. 22, 95 S.Ct. 1200. Brown therefore had the burden to perfect her state appeal before filing this § 1983 action. That she failed to do so should not affect our interpretation of Younger abstention.