North East Medical Services, Inc. v. California Department of Health Care Services, Health & Human Services Agency

OPINION

N.R. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

Where North East Medical Services, Inc. (“NEMS”) and La Clínica de la Raza, Inc. (“La Clínica,” and, together with NEMS, the “Centers”) 1 have already paid money to the California Department of Health Care Services (“California”), they may not avoid the Eleventh Amendment’s general bar to seeking money damages from a state simply by alleging that Cali fornia was not entitled to the payments. The Centers’ claims must fall within a recognized Eleventh Amendment exception. See Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 667-69, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974); Ford…