Ellison v. Stephens

MERRITT, Circuit Judge.

The issue here is whether appellant may bring a civil rights suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Attorney General of Kentucky merely for raising the common law doctrine of sovereign immunity as a defense to appellant’s state court suit against the Commonwealth.

*585Appellant, Gary Ellison, is the Administrator of the Estate of Elmer Ellison, one of 165 victims of the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in May, 1977. On behalf of the estate, the Administrator instituted a civil action for wrongful death against the Commonwealth of Kentucky and others in the Circuit Court of…