Bergemann v. Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management

SELYA, Circuit Judge.

This appeal poses a question that has divided the circuits. The question, which is a matter of first impression for this court, is whether a state waives its sovereign immunity to a pleaded claim by removing that claim to the federal court. We conclude that a waiver occurs only if the removal confers an unfair advantage on the removing state. Because the district court reached this same conclusion and because its other rulings are unimpugnable, we affirm the judgment below.

I. BACKGROUND

This case is the latest in a series of courtroom assaults launched by a cadre of Rhode…