Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia

Paul Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia

Argued February 25, 2002
Decided May 13, 2002
Full case name Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia
Docket nos. 01-298
Citations

535 U.S. 613 (more)

Holding
A State waives its Eleventh Amendment immunity when it removes a case from state court to federal court. The university officials' voluntary removal of the action expressly invoked the jurisdiction of the federal courts and thus constituted a waiver of sovereign immunity with regard to state law claims for which immunity was waived in state court. It is an established general principle that a State's voluntary appearance in federal court amounts to a waiver of its Eleventh Amendment immunity. Although Georgia was brought involuntarily into the case as a defendant in state court, it then voluntarily removed the case to federal court, thus voluntarily invoking that court's jurisdiction. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded.
Court membership
Case opinions
Majority Breyer, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution

Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia, 535 U.S. 613 (2002), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States which ruled that a state voluntarily waives at least part of its Eleventh Amendment immunity when it invokes a federal court's removal jurisdiction. There has subsequently been a "circuit split" in federal courts regarding whether a state waives immunity from liability or only a federal form.[1]

Justice Stephen Breyer delivered the Opinion of the Court.

  1. Stroud v. McIntosh, No. 12-10436 (11th Cir. 2013)

See also

External links

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