Summary
affirming district court's dismissal of complaint based on university's sovereign immunity from suit under the FMLA self- care provision
Summary of this case from Kenney v. Bd. of Trs. of Univ. of Ark.Opinion
No. 16-4131
08-10-2017
Nancy T. Keselyak Plaintiff - Appellant v. The Curators of the University of Missouri Defendant - Appellee
Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Jefferson City [Unpublished] Before COLLOTON, MURPHY, and KELLY, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM.
Nancy Keselyak appeals the district court's dismissal of her lawsuit brought under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Keselyak, a tenured professor at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Dentistry (University), argues that the University violated her rights under the FMLA when it suspended her salary when she was unable to return to work following an injury and failed to request FMLA leave. She also argues that the district court erred in denying her motion for default judgment.
The Honorable M. Douglas Harpool, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri. --------
After careful review, we find no abuse of discretion in the district court's denial of Keselyak's default motion. See Comiskey v. JFTJ Corp., 989 F.2d 1007, 1009-10 (8th Cir. 1993) (abuse-of-discretion review of denial of motion for default judgment). We also conclude that the district court properly dismissed the complaint, see Butler v. Bank of Am., N.A., 690 F.3d 959, 961 (8th Cir. 2012) (grant of motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim reviewed de novo), as the University was entitled to sovereign immunity, see Coleman v. Court of Appeals of Md., 566 U.S. 30, 43-44 (2012) (Congress did not abrogate states' sovereign immunity from suits for money damages in enacting FMLA's self-care provision). Accordingly, we affirm. See 8th Cir. R. 47B, and deny Keselyak's pending motions.