Court Opinion

ID: 9775122
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:44:21.08015+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:20.774307
License: Public Domain

STEPHENS, Chief Justice,
concurring.
While I concur with the majority, I would go further and revisit the two-pronged test we adopted in Kentucky Center for the Arts v. Berns, Ky., 801 S.W.2d 327 (1991), as I believe it went too far and usurped a function squarely within the discretion of the legislature. Section 231 of Kentucky’s Constitution specifically states: “The General Assembly may, by law, direct in what manner and in what courts suits may be brought against the Commonwealth.” By the very language of this section, sovereign immunity is retained for the Commonwealth until the General Assembly, by statute, expressly waives it.
*347However, the test annunciated by this Court in Bems, supra, potentially affords operations established, funded, and owned by the Commonwealth no protection of sovereign immunity. This surely does not comport with the purpose the original drafters of our constitution had in mind. Thus, I would leave the determination of what entities should be afforded sovereign immunity where it properly belongs, with the General Assembly.