Charles Smith, Betty Mains, James Scoggins, Bryan Hall, Each Individually and in Their Official Capacity, As…

Summary

The court held that the Arkansas Whistle-Blower Act waived sovereign immunity for a claim against a state hospital administrator in his official capacity because that suit was effectively against the public employer. It further held that the complaint asserted no official-capacity claims under the Arkansas Civil Rights Act and that Betty Mains was entitled to statutory or qualified immunity from the individual-capacity civil-rights claims because the complaint and record contained no specific facts showing that she acted maliciously. The court affirmed in part, reversed and dismissed in part, and remanded. Justice Corbin, concurring in part and dissenting in part, would have found the abbreviated record insufficient to resolve the remaining issues; Justice Baker, concurring in part and dissenting in part, would have rejected the Whistle-Blower Act immunity waiver and addressed the official-capacity civil-rights claims as barred by sovereign immunity.