These are the wheels of justice!
Out-of-state straphangers that have also gotten screwed over by the problem-plagued, perpetually unreliable New Jersey Transit can now sue the beleaguered agency, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
The state-owned corporation — notorious for its delayed trains and rising fares — can no longer hide behind so-called “sovereign immunity,” the unanimous decision said, paving the way for non-Jersey commuters to sue.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the network of trains and buses, which stretches into New York and Pennsylvania, is not an “arm of the state.”
NJ Transit had argued that it was a government agency entitled to “sovereign immunity.” Christopher Sadowski“NJ Transit Corporation is not an arm of New Jersey and thus is not entitled to share in New Jersey’s interstate sovereign immunity,” Sotomayor said in a 23-page opinion.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs, who were injured in traffic accidents involving NJ Transit buses in New York City and Philadelphia, argued that the agency’s structure was supposed to shield it from the downsides of functioning as either a state agency or a corporation while reaping the benefits of both.
One attorney for the plaintiffs described New Jersey’s characterization of its transportation system as a “sort of a mishmash, you-know-it-when-you-see-it” approach.
Sotomayor determined: “The clearest evidence that a State has created a legally separate entity is that it created a corporation with the traditional corporate powers to sue and be sued, hold property, make contracts, and incur debt.”
Though a win for riders, the SCOTUS decision spells more bad news for the embattled state-owned agency that’s been dogged by rampant delays, questionable new ticket policies and fare hikes that went into effect last summer despite the reduced quality of service.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed out in her opinion, lawmakers “structured NJ Transit as a legally separate entity.” APThe case, argued in January, resolves two separate decisions by state courts.
Plaintiff Jeffrey Colt had been struck by an NJ Transit bus in Manhattan in 2017, while Cedric Galette was a passenger in a car that was rammed by an NJ Transit bus in the City of Brotherly Love a year later.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed Galette’s case, finding that sovereign immunity applied, while the New York Court of Appeals allowed Colt’s suit to proceed.
During oral arguments, New Jersey Deputy Solicitor General Michael Zuckerman warned that a loss at the Supreme Court could be detrimental to the Garden State’s already shaky financing of its public transportation system.
“NJ Transit looks nothing like a city or town, and little like a private company,” Zuckerman told the high court. “It looks a lot like a New Jersey state agency. That means plaintiffs must sue it where the state has consented — in New Jersey.”
The “sovereign immunity” concept protecting the transit system had been enshrined in the 11th Amendment, which keeps states from being dragged without their consent into courts by non-residents or foreigners.
The transportation authority was established by the Trenton legislature in 1979 as a state-owned corporation, with the governor retaining veto power over key decisions such as appointing members to its board.
