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 Daniel’s official-capacity claim against the administrator of the Arkansas State Hospital because that claim was effectively against a statutory public employer. The court further held that Betty Mains was entitled to summary judgment on Daniel’s individual-capacity civil-rights claims because the complaint and opposing materials did not show that Mains personally acted with malice. The judgment was affirmed in part, reversed and dismissed in part, and remanded. Justice Baker, concurring in part and dissenting in part, would have rejected the Whistle-Blower Act immunity ruling, addressed and rejected the official-capacity civil-rights claims, and applied a different immunity analysis to the individual-capacity claims; Justice Corbin, concurring in part and dissenting in part, would have declined to reach the remaining issues because the appellate record was inadequate.