Merrill Eugene Riggle v. State of California

577 F.2d 579 Merrill Eugene RIGGLE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE OF CALIFORNIA, Defendant-Appellee. No. 75-2865. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. June 26, 1978. Robert R. Huskinson, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant. Robert W. Vidor, Los Angeles, Cal., for defendant-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Before BARNES and HUFSTEDLER, Circuit Judges, and NIELSEN, District Judge. * BARNES, Senior Circuit Judge: 1 The district court dismissed the State of California as a defendant, in this action, for, inter alia, damages arising from the negligent operation of the Upper Newport Bay Bridge in Orange County, California. The issue before this Court is whether the district court properly concluded that neither the construction and operation of a bridge over navigable waters of the United States, nor enactment of the California Tort Claims Act, waived the state's sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution. We hold the district court was correct because there has been no express waiver of immunity or consent to be sued in either California's construction of the bridge or its enactment…