Court Opinion

ID: 9756066
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 21:06:13.207984+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:14.502350
License: Public Domain

CAVANAUGH, Judge,
concurring:
I concur with the majority’s view that the defendants are immune from liability under the principles of Dubree v. Commonwealth, 481 Pa. 540, 393 A.2d 293 (1978). I concur rather than join the majority, however, because I think the discussion about 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5110(a)(5) (limited waiver of sovereign immunity) and 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5111(b)(5) (limitations on damages) is unnecessary. Those subsections determine whether or not, and the extent to which, sovereign immunity is a defense. Sovereign immunity is a defense which insulates the Commonwealth or its agencies from liability. Mayle v. Pennsylvania Department of Highways, 479 Pa. 384, 386, 388 A.2d 709, 710 (1978). In the instant case employees of a Commonwealth agency, not the Commonwealth or its agency, are defendants. Thus, sovereign immunity does not apply. Nevertheless, official immunity, as enunciated in Dubree, does apply and bars the instant action.