Why are some government entities immune from suit?
The logic of what is called sovereign immunity dates back to the days when we were ruled by kings. In those days the king could not be sued. The king could not be sued because the king was absolute, i.e. his power was superceded by no other human being within the realm of his kingdom. Today we are no long ruled by kings in this country but the idea of the kingdom or the government being immune has continued to some extent on the theory that to allow the government to be sued for all of the same things that human beings could be sued for would be a waste of government resources and would expose the government to significant liabilities that may not be in the interest of the general public. As such, in most jurisdictions some governmental entities and some governmental employees are immune from tort suits either in whole or in part. The law on this subject differs very much from one state to another. See Brien Roche’s book “Law 101” published by Sphinx Publishing for more information on
