Circuit split · sovereign immunity
Whether Section 80 of the WMATA Compact waives or preserves the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's sovereign immunity for a given category of tort claims
1 federal appellate case on this question, each acknowledging the disagreement in its own words.
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals · May 10, 2002
“Yet because our sister circuit’s approach to section 80 appears-well-established, the cost of refusing to follow that approach is to create a circuit split between the only two circuits that are likely to hear tort claims against the METRO.” — Creates a split
“Yet because our sister circuit’s approach to section 80 appears-well-established, the cost of refusing to follow that approach is to create a circuit split between the only two circuits that are likely to hear tort claims against the METRO.” — Acknowledges a circuit split
Empirical analysis of this case →
The other side of the split
Decisions the acknowledging court(s) named as the opposing or joined side, quoted in the acknowledging opinion's own words.
- DiscussedSanders819 F.2d 1155
“Further, even if it could be said that the framers of the METRO Compact “accepted the Dalehite conception” of governmental functions, Sanders, 819 F.2d at 1155 , this acceptance would be better reflected in Justice Scalia’s approach than in that of the Gaubert majority because Justice Sca-lia sought to preserve the insights of the planning/operational distinction suggested by Dalehite.” — Smith v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, acknowledging the split
- Discussed · 4th Cir.Lizzi v. Alexander255 F.3d 128
What the split turns on
- Anchor precedents:
- Gaubert499 U.S. 335 ·
- Dalehite
- Doctrines & tests:
- susceptible-to-policy-analysis standard ·
- governmental function exception ·
- planning/operational distinction
Cases are grouped by the legal question they announce a split on, classified from the court's own acknowledgment sentence. Verified acknowledgments only. Counter-side decisions are extracted from the acknowledging opinions' own text and linked only when the citation resolves in this corpus. See all circuit splits.