Engelman Irrigation District v. Shields Bros., Inc.

In this appeal, a governmental entity asks the Court to declare void a decades-old final money judgment on grounds that the law has changed regarding the entity’s sovereign immunity.1 The marquee issue, on the periphery in several of our recent immunity cases, is now squarely presented: Must courts equate sovereign immunity with a lack of subject-matter jurisdiction for all purposes? More specifically, does our decision in Tooke v. City of Mexia (that statutory “sue and be sued’-’ language is insufficient to waive immunity)2 apply narrowly only to judgments still being challenged on direct…