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State agency can’t claim sovereign immunity on contract claim

State agency can’t claim sovereign immunity on contract claim

State agency can’t claim sovereign immunity on contract claim

The Supreme Court of Iowa has affirmed a trial court decision and held that a state agency cannot plead sovereign immunity to escape a claim for breach of contract. The Court recognized that the state could not be sued without having waived its sovereign immunity, but held that the state could waive its immunity “impliedly or constructively” when it voluntarily creates certain legal relationships that subjects it to liability. The issue arose when the Terrace Hill Society Foundation, a nonprofit corporation successor resulting from the merger of the Terrace Hill Foundation and the Terrace Hill Society in 2012. According to the petition, the Foundation and the Society entered into a contract...

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