Suzanne E. Esserman v. Indiana Department of Environmental Management

Slaughter, Justice.

- Plaintiff seeks damages under Indiana’s False Claims and Whistleblower Protection Act for what she claims was a retaliatory discharge by her employer, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Plaintiffs claim does not sound in tort but is based on the Department’s alleged violation of the Act. Indiana has not abrogated common-law sovereign immunity for non-tort claims premised on the violation of a statute. Esserman can thus proceed with her statutory claim only if the State has waived sovereign immunity concerning it. - Applying ■ the ' governing standard, we…