Bd. of Trustees v. Burcham

Summary

The court held that sovereign immunity barred the wrongful-termination action because the University, as a state university board, was protected from suit and the complaint sought monetary damages. The alleged failure to follow an employment grievance procedure did not create an applicable exception to sovereign immunity, which permits claims based on unconstitutional, ultra vires, arbitrary, capricious, or bad-faith conduct only when injunctive relief is sought. The court therefore reversed the denial of the motion to dismiss and dismissed the claim for lack of jurisdiction.