Messina v. Burden

These two appeals present the same issue from slightly different perspectives. Both appeals concern whether the doctrine of sovereign immunity extends to government employees such as those involved in these cases. They differ in that William W. Burden, the appellee in the first appeal, was an employee of Tidewater Community College, part of the Virginia Community College System, and thus, in essence, an employee of the State, while Dennis R. Johnson, the appellee in the second appeal, was an employee of Arlington County. These appeals give us the opportunity to reexamine the complex law of…