Calvert Associates Ltd. Partnership v. Department of Employment & Social Services

Appellants, Calvert Associates Limited Partnership et al. (Calvert), here seek to impinge upon the doctrine of sovereign immunity. As they put it, however, they do “not advocate . . . that the doctrine of sovereign immunity be fully swept away by judicial decision,” but rather they “urge that the Court hold the doctrine not applicable where the State . . . enters into purely private contracts with its citizens.” For the reasons which we shall develop we are unable to accede to this point of view.

The facts are relatively simple. Leases were entered into between two limited partnerships and the…