The consolidated lawsuits filed by eight families alleges that the Alabama Department of Corrections illegally allowed the University of Alabama at Birmingham to study the organs of their deceased incarcerated relatives without the consent of the next of kin. Alabama Circuit Court Judge J.R. Gaines denied the defendant's motion to dismiss the case based on state immunity, which protects state officials from lawsuits if they are acting within their official capacities. Gaines wrote that immunity doesn’t apply if their actions violate the law or when they act “willfully, maliciously, fraudulently, in bad faith, beyond their authority or under a mistaken interpretation of the law." The next hearing is on May 6. Read the full story at the 🔗 link in bio. #YourTownYourNews #WVUA23 #AlabamaNews #AlabamaPrison #AlabamaLawsuit #UAB