Today the Supreme Court decided two related state court cases. The question presented was whether New Jersey Transit is an arm of the New Jersey government, and therefore protected from suit by sovereign immunity. The New York Court of Appeals (the highest court in New York) found that NJ Transit was not an arm of the government. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court found that the transit agency was an arm of the government.
Through Justice Sotomayor's unanimous decision, the Supreme Court resolved this two-way split by favoring New York's holding.
This pair of cases arises out of two accidents, one in New York City and one in Philadelphia, in which New JerseyTransit buses struck and injured people. Both victims sued New Jersey Transit, a corporation created by the New Jersey Legislature, in their respective home courts in New York and Pennsylvania. The highest courts in those States diverged as to whether New Jersey Transit is an arm of New Jersey. The Court granted certiorari to resolve whether New Jersey Transit is an arm of New Jersey and thus entitled to the State's sovereign immunity. It is not. Accordingly, the judgment of the New York Court of Appeals is affirmed and the judgment of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is reversed.
.jpg?w=600)
