Cite as 2013 Ark. 232
defense of sovereign immunity. Further, Alpha’s claims for injunctive, monetary, and declaratory relief would operate to control the actions of the State and are therefore barred by the defense of sovereign immunity. Also, the exception for waiver does not apply; the exception for ultra vires, arbitrary, capricious, or bad-faith acts does not apply; the limited exception found in the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act does not apply; and the takings exception does not apply.
Reversed and dismissed.
Special Justice J. SHEPHERD RUSSELL, III, joins and concurs.
CORBIN, DANIELSON, and GOODSON, JJ., dissent.
HOOFMAN, J., not participating.
J. SHEPHERD RUSSELL, III, Special Justice, concurring. While I join the majority, I write separately to respond to the dissents. I am not convinced that the Commission's original answer to Alpha Marketing's initial complaint constituted a waiver. The doctrine of sovereign immunity is rigid and may only be waived in limited circumstances, one of which is when the State is the moving party seeking specific relief. Short v. Westark Cmty. College, 347 Ark. 497, 504, 65 S.W.3d 440, 445 (2002) (citing State Office of Child Support Enforcem't v. Mitchell, 330 Ark. 338, 954 S.W.2d 907 (1997)). To hold that the Commission became a moving party seeking specific relief is contrary to this court’s case law. The court has not heretofore found credence in an argument for waiver of sovereign immunity when the facts did not unquestionably demonstrate that the State was the moving party. See Arkansas Game & Fish Comm'n v. Lindsey, 299 Ark. 249, 251, 771 S.W.2d 769, 770 (1989) (finding that the
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