Court Opinion

ID: 9584090
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:44:32.29202+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:06:40.120532
License: Public Domain

Hill, Presiding Justice,
dissenting.
As I read Justice Weltner’s concurring opinion along with Justice Clarke’s dissent (joined by this writer), the Department of Transportation’s contracts are unenforceable for want of mutuality. Justice Smith in his dissent (joined by this writer) would find waiver of sovereign immunity as to contracts. Neither Justice Smith nor the members of the majority have expressed their views on the question of mutuality vis-a-vis sovereign immunity. Nevertheless, three members of the court have stated that the Department’s contracts are unenforceable, with the other four members not expressing their views on this question.
We will have to wait until the Department of Transportation, or some other state department claiming sovereign immunity, sues on one of its “contracts” and the other party asserts that the “contract” is unenforceable for lack of mutuality. Or perhaps the question will arise when the low bidder on a state “contract” decides not to enter into the “contract” because the bidder can’t enforce it. It is possible that a supplier may refuse delivery due to a price increase. The possibilities of losses to the state due to its insistence on sovereign immunity seem almost unlimited.