No sovereign immunity for bad check collection outfit
A private corporation simply cannot be an arm of a state. That's the conclusion of the Ninth Circuit in Del Campo v. American Corrective Counseling Services. The court held, somewhat testily, that private entities are not entitled to 11th amendment immunity.
In this consolidated case, the plaintiffs brought an assortment of state and federal fair debt collection claims against ACCS, a private corporation. ACCS operated a bad check recovery program for the Santa Clara DA. The Court held that ACCS’s status as a private entity, not its conduct, is what determines its ineligilbity for 11th amendment immunity.
