Barde v. Board of Trustees

This is an appeal from the dismissal of the plaintiffs declaratory judgment action for lack of jurisdiction. The plaintiff, Robert E. Barde, sought by way of declaratory relief from the defendant, board of trustees of regional community colleges, tenured status as an accounting professor and an increase in his salary.

The defendant moved to dismiss the action claiming that the doctrine of sovereign immunity deprived the court of subject matter jurisdiction. The court concluded that: (1) the real party in interest was the state; (2) there had been no permission granted to bring this action; (3)…