Hawai'i

Plaintiffs-Appellants, Sue Kruse and Lance Caspary, filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action in state court against the State of Hawaii and employees of Hawaii’s Department of Human Services (“DHS”) for allegedly violating their various rights under the U.S. Constitution and state law. The State removed the case to federal court. The district court granted the State’s motion for judgment on the pleadings on claims barred by the Eleventh Amendment and on the supervisory liability claims. The court also granted the State’s motion for summary judgment on the qualified immunity issue. The court then remanded the state law claims to state court.

Kruse filed the instant appeal. She claims that the district court did not have jurisdiction because the action was improperly removed. Kruse also claims that the district court erred as a matter of law in: (1) finding that Kruse’s claims for injunctive relief against DHS officials in their official capacity were retroactive and therefore barred by the Eleventh Amendment; (2) ruling that the officials were entitled to qualified immunity; and (3) admitting certain pieces of evidence. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

I.…