Court Opinion

ID: 9598184
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:06:21.619934+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:41.080957
License: Public Domain

*427Gregory, Justice,
concurring.
It is the function of the Legislature to waive sovereign immunity. If that body chooses to do so, words can be found which make it clear that the intent to waive exists. The proper words would be: “Sovereign immunity is hereby waived.” Instead, the courts have had to construe other words to have that meaning. The courts have seized on the words “the power to sue and be sued.” I would not ordinarily read those words to mean a waiver of sovereign immunity. If they waive sovereign immunity, why don’t they waive the statute of limitations? I think those words are meant to give the entity in question the status and capacity to enter our courts. Nonetheless, there are a number of appellate opinions cited in the majority opinion in similar cases giving those words the additional meaning that a waiver of sovereign immunity occurs. In light of that, the Legislature must be held to have given them the same meaning in enacting this statute using those same words.