Plaintiff Cannot Take Advantage of State?s Eleventh Amendment Immunity to Deprive Court of Jurisdiction After Losing at Trial

This?? month?s?? Chutzpah?? Award?? goes?? to?? the plaintiff in this case, who just happened to be a California? Superior? Court? court? reporter.?? ?She was? sexually? harassed? by? her? supervisor,? who was fired for his behavior.?? She then sued the court and her supervisor under Title VII and California law. ?The state raised 11th Amendment immunity, but did not move to dismiss.? ?The plaintiff then dismissed all of her federal claims. She lost at trial, appealed, got a new trial, and lost again.? ?On her second appeal, she asserted that the district court ?lacked jurisdiction? over her case due to the 11th Amendment.? ?The Ninth Circuit rejected what it described as a ??brazen? argument.? ?It reaffirmed that 11th Amendment immunity does not deprive a federal court of subject matter jurisdiction, so the plaintiff may not raise the issue. ?Tritchler v. County of Lake, No. 02-15687 (2/18/04; Cudahy (7th Cir.), Goodwin and Kleinfeld).