State v. Sledge

OPINION

O’CONNOR, Justice.

This is an interlocutory appeal arising from the trial court’s denial of the State of Texas’s plea to the jurisdiction asserting sovereign immunity from suit against a counterclaim 1 filed by William L. Sledge 2 for damages for “pre-condemnation taking.” Reduced to its simplest terms, the issue is whether the State of Texas can be sued for actions of the United States Army Corps of Engineers that damaged land belonging to Sledge. We hold it cannot, and reverse and render judgment for the State.

Background

In 1968, Sledge purchased four acres of land along the Gulf…