In 1973, the Reverend W. L. Jagnandan and his two sons filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Mississippi to challenge the constitutionality of a Mississippi statute, § 37-103-23 Miss. Code Ann. (1972), which classified all alien students, even Mississippi residents, as nonresidents for purposes of payment of tuition at state universities. Plaintiffs alleged violations of their constitutional rights to due process and equal protection, as well as their rights under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101. Plaintiffs sought injunctive and declaratory relief, monetary damages and attorneys' fees.

Defendants moved to dismiss the action for lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim. Defendants also asserted that they were immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment.

As Plaintiffs made a constitutional challenge to a state law, the case was assigned to a three-judge panel for disposition. The panel, which included District Judges James P. Coleman, William C. Keady, and Orma R. Smith, declared that the state law was unconstitutional in that it violated the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. The panel, however, refused to certify the case as a class action and denied, on Eleventh Amendment grounds, Plaintiffs' request for reimbursement of excess tuition payments. Jagnandan v. Giles, 379 F.Supp. 1178 (N.D.Miss. 1974). Plaintiffs appealed the denial of tuition reimbursement. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial. Jagnandan v. Giles, 538 F.2d 1166 (5th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 432 U.S. 910 (1977).

Stephen Imm - 08/23/2007


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