PennEast Can’t Sue New Jersey to Advance Pipeline: Court (2)

PennEast Pipeline Company LLC can’t sue New Jersey in federal court in an effort to gain property to build a gas pipeline, the Third Circuit ruled Sept. 10.

The company’s condemnation lawsuits, which seek to gain access to property along the pipeline route, are barred by the 11th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said.

Under that Amendment, states enjoy sovereign immunity from suits by private parties in federal court, the court said.

“It is the ‘indignity of subjecting a State to the coercive process of judicial tribunals at the instance of ...