Opinion ID: 171635
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Brown's Federal Lawsuit

Text: Just a few days before her benefits were due to terminate, Brown filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas against Day in his official capacity as director of HPF. She thus declined to petition the Kansas state courts for review as provided for under the Kansas Judicial Review Act. See Kan. Stat. § 77-613(b). In her federal complaint, Brown claimed, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, that HPF violated federal Medicaid law when it determined that the assets in the trust left to Brown by her mother are available assets. As a remedy, Brown sought a declaratory judgment and an injunction barring HPF from terminating her Medicaid coverage. The district court granted Brown's motion for a preliminary injunction on June 8, 2006. The court conclude[d] that in terminating plaintiff's Medicaid coverage based on K.S.A. § 39-709(e)(3), HPF has acted arbitrarily, capriciously and in contravention of 42 U.S.C. § 1396a(r)(2)(A)(I). About a month after the district court issued this order, Day filed a motion to dismiss or stay, arguing that the federal court should abstain in light of Brown's option to appeal HPF's decision to the Kansas state courts. Day reasoned that Brown had turned her back on an ongoing state proceeding when she failed to pursue judicial review in the Kansas state courts. In addition, Day attached a document entitled Petition for Civil Enforcement that he claimed he would shortly file in Kansas state court. The Petition claims, in relevant part, that Don Brown, as trustee of the Brown Trust, should be liable to the [HPF] under K.S.A. 39-719a for all Medical Assistance provided to Dena Brown from July 1, 2004 to the present. The record is silent as to whether Day or the HPF ever filed this petition. The district court dismissed the federal case, holding that Younger v. Harris and its progeny commanded abstention because (1) Brown initiated a federal action instead of exhausting her state appellate options; (2) the Kansas state court provided an adequate forum for Brown's challenge to the HPF decision; and (3) Kansas has an interest in [p]rotecting the fiscal integrity of public assistance programs. Brown then filed a motion to alter or amend the judgment, challenging the court's abstention. In response, the district court explicated more thoroughly its rationale for concluding that there was an ongoing state proceeding entitled to Younger deference. The court overruled Brown's motion to alter or amend the original judgment. Brown timely appealed the dismissal of her case.