Opinion ID: 749433
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Did Utah Waive its Eleventh Amendment Immunity?

Text: 21 The defendants do not dispute that they have appeared throughout this action without invoking Eleventh Amendment immunity or that [a] state may waive its Eleventh Amendment immunity and consent to suit in federal court. Johns, 57 F.3d at 1553. However, [t]he mere fact that [the defendants] ha[ve] appeared in this suit, without explicitly invoking Eleventh Amendment immunity does not, by itself, constitute a waiver of Eleventh Amendment immunity. Mascheroni, 28 F.3d at 1560. A state's waiver is subject to a stringent test: Utah's consent to suit against it in court must be express and unequivocal. See Pennhurst, 465 U.S. at 99, 104 S.Ct. at 907. A state may waive its Eleventh Amendment immunity only where stated 'by the most express language or by such overwhelming implication from the text [of a state statutory or constitutional provision] as [will] leave no room for any other reasonable construction.'  Atascadero State Hosp. v. Scanlon, 473 U.S. 234, 239-40, 105 S.Ct. 3142, 3145-46, 87 L.Ed.2d 171 (1985) (quoting Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 673, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1360, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974)). 22 As we have concluded previously, there is no Utah statutory or constitutional provision that expressly waives the state's Eleventh Amendment immunity with respect to the claims V-1 alleges here. See Johns, 57 F.3d at 1554. 23 Although Utah has several general consent to suit provisions in its Governmental Immunity Act, Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-1 to 63-30-38, which waive its immunity to suits brought in Utah state courts, a state's consent to be sued in the state's own courts does not serve to waive its Eleventh Amendment immunity. Indeed, Utah law expressly provides that its state district courts have exclusive jurisdiction over suits brought against it. Utah Code Ann. § 63-30-16. This provision clearly evidences Utah's intent to retain its Eleventh Amendment immunity. 24 Id. (quoting Richins v. Industrial Constr., Inc., 502 F.2d 1051, 1055 (10th Cir.1974), and citing Port Auth. Trans-Hudson Corp. v. Feeney, 495 U.S. 299, 306, 110 S.Ct. 1868, 1872, 109 L.Ed.2d 264 (1990)). Accordingly, we conclude that Utah has not waived its sovereign immunity. 25