Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia

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 forum.

Paul Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued February 25, 2002 Decided May 13, 2002
Full case name	Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia
Docket no.	01-298
Citations	535 U.S. 613 (more) 122 S. Ct. 1640; 152 L. Ed. 2d 806
Case history
Prior	251 F.3d 1372 (11th Cir. 2001); cert. granted, 534 U.S. 991 (2001).
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
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinion
Majority	Breyer, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XI

Background

A professor filed suit in state court claiming that adding when they placed sexual harassment allegations in his personnel files violated state tort laws. The university system voluntarily moved the case to federal court and sought dismissal there.

Opinion of the court

Justice Stephen Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 535
• List of United States Supreme Court cases

External links

• Text of Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia, 535 U.S. 613 (2002) is available from: Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)