Seabolt v. County of Albemarle

Violet Seabolt filed a complaint against Albermarle County alleging that she was injured as a result of the County's gross negligence in maintaining a public park. The County filed a demurrer to gross negligence and a special plea of sovereign immunity. The circuit court sustained the demurrer as to gross negligence but declined to rule on the County's special plea of sovereign immunity. The Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of Seabolt's complaint but on different grounds, holding that the circuit court erred by not granting the County's special plea of sovereign immunity because, in the absence of a legislative waiver of immunity, the circuit court was without jurisdiction to adjudicate Seabolt's tort claim against the County, and therefore, the court had no jurisdiction to decide the case on any other basis. View "Seabolt v. County of Albemarle" on Justia Law