United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

____________ FILED November 16, 2023 No. 22-50828 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk

Philip C. James; John Ballantyne; William Noe,

Plaintiffs—Appellees,

versus

Glenn Allen Hegar, Jr., in his individual and official capacities as Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, and his official and custodial capacities as Chairman of the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company and administrator of Texas Unclaimed Property Funds; Joani Bishop, in her individual and official capacities as Director of Unclaimed Property Reporting and Compliance, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts,

Defendants—Appellants. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas USDC No. 5:22-CV-51 ______________________________

Before King, Willett, and Douglas, Circuit Judges. King, Circuit Judge: Plaintiffs are three Texas residents whose assets escheated to the State under Texas’s Unclaimed Property Act. Plaintiffs brought a class action lawsuit against the Texas Comptroller and a director in the Comptroller’s office, alleging that the State is abusing the Unclaimed Property Act to seize purportedly abandoned property without providing proper notice. The Case: 22-50828 Document: 00516971286 Page: 2 Date Filed: 11/16/2023

No. 22-50828

district court dismissed most of Plaintiffs’ claims. However, applying the Ex parte Young exception to state sovereign immunity, the district court permitted Plaintiffs to seek prospective relief, including an injunction ordering state officials to comply with the Constitution’s Takings and Due Process Clauses. In this interlocutory appeal, Defendants contend that Plaintiffs cannot invoke Ex parte Young because they lack standing to seek prospective relief and have not alleged an ongoing violation of federal law. We agree with Defendants and REVERSE the district court’s denial of Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity, and we REMAND with instructions to dismiss Plaintiffs’ remaining claims for prospective relief without prejudice. I. This case arises from alleged systemic and ongoing violations of Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights by the State of Texas through its administration of the Texas Unclaimed Property Act (“UPA”), Tex. Prop. Code § 71.001 et seq. The UPA requires holders of presumptively abandoned property to report and deliver that property to the State Comptroller, along with last-known information about the property owner. Id. §§ 74.101, 74.301. “[P]roperty is presumed abandoned if, for longer than three years: (1) the location of the owner of the property is unknown to the holder of the property; and (2) according to the knowledge and records of the holder of the property, a claim to the property has not been asserted or an act of ownership of the property has not been exercised.” Id. § 72.101(a). The holder of the property is generally required to give notice to the owner at least 60 days before the property is delivered to the Comp