holding that Virginia’s “transactional approach” to claim preclusion did not bar former state employee’s Title VII claim for damages where the employee “could not have sought money damages” either as part of agency-level proceedings to overturn disciplinary action “or as part of the subsequent state-court action appealing the [agency] decision”
How later courts described this case
- holding that Virginia’s “transactional approach” to claim preclusion did not bar former state employee’s Title VII claim for damages where the employee “could not have sought money damages” either as part of agency-level proceedings to overturn disciplinary action “or as part of the subsequent state-court action appealing the [agency] decision”
- holding that “state sovereign immunity bars all claims by private citizens against state governments and their agencies, except where Congress has validly abrogated that immunity or the state has waived it.”
- holding “state sovereign immunity bars all claims by private citizens against state governments and their agencies, except where Congress has validly abrogated that immunity or the state has waived it”
- stating that “the Supreme Court has held that Congress exceeded its authority” when it attempted to abrogate state sovereign immunity for Title I of the ADA
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
TRAXLER, Senior Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur in Sections I and II of the majority opinion. As to how Virginia courts would resolve the claim preclusion issue in Section III, I would certify this question to the Supreme Court of Virginia. This is not a criticism of the majority opinion. The legal route it outlines is novel, even if correct. In my view, the impact of this case will be far reaching, as there is a great deal of litigation in this area of the law. There is no Virginia case law that directly addresses the precise issue before us, and I am not entirely certain that we have reached the conclusion anticipated by the Virginia court when it promulgated Rule 1:6. If new ground is to be plowed, I believe it should be done by the Supreme Court of Virginia.