Louisiana's Sabine River Authority Not Entitled To Sovereign Immunity

• Published date: 02 June 2023
• Law Firm: Liskow & Lewis
• Author: Ms Rebecca M. Guidry

In a recent opinion, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the "Sabine River Authority, State of Louisiana" ("SRA-L") is not entitled to Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity¹

SRA-L was a named defendant in a suit by plaintiffs who own land in Louisiana and Texas. Plaintiffs levied allegations that years-long mismanagement of the Toledo Bend reservoir by SRA-L² culminated in damage to plaintiffs' properties via flooding, violating their constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment. Plaintiffs alleged that despite advance knowledge of the likelihood for significant downstream flooding, SRA-L decided to open spillway gates freeing water from the reservoir into the Sabine River to alleviate elevated reservoir volumes from a cataclysmic rain storm in March of 2016.

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the federal district court's order denying³ SRA-L's Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction by applying the Circuit's well-established six-factor test of Clark v. Tarrant County, 798 F.2d 736, 744-45 (5^th Cir. 1986). An entity classified as an "arm of the state" would be entitled to sovereign immunity provided by the Eleventh Amendment; in contrast, a "political subdivision" is not afforded the same protection. The burden of proof falls on the entity seeking immunity and SRA-L failed to meet its burden.

The six Clark factors are as follows:

"(1) whether state statutes and case law characterize the agency as an arm of the state;

(2) the source of funds for the entity;

(3) the degree of local autonomy the entity enjoys;

(4) whether the entity is concerned primarily with local, as opposed to statewide, problems;

(5)...