Court Opinion

ID: 9783071
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 19:39:06.29203+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:19.542793
License: Public Domain

KENNETH L. BUETTNER, Chief Judge,
dissenting:
¶ 20 The Oklahoma Constitution, Article 5, § 53, provides that no statute of limitations will bar collection of an indebtedness owed to the state. The University of Oklahoma is a constitutionally created state agency. Article XIII, § 8, Oklahoma Constitution. Where a state agency is acting in its sovereign capacity to vindicate public rights, then § 53 of the Constitution applies. Collecting state funded educational loans is the enforcement of a public right. State ex rel. Oklahoma Student Loan Authority v. Akers, 1995 OK CIV APP 75, 900 P.2d 468. There is no functional difference between the Oklahoma Student Loan Authority collecting student loans and the University collecting student loans.
¶21 The gift of money to the University became the property of the University. 70 Okla. Stat.2001 § 3209. When the University sought to recover its loaned funds from the Defendant, it was operating in its sovereign capacity to enforce a public right, and the Oklahoma Constitution protected it from application of a statute of limitations.
¶ 22 I respectfully dissent.