Board of Regents of the Univ. Sys. of Ga. v. Barnes

This appeal arises from Thomas Barnes’s breach of contract action against The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia the “Board” seeking damages related to his expulsion without notice or hearing by Valdosta State University “VSU”. The Board moved to dismiss Barnes’s complaint on the ground of sovereign immunity. The trial court denied the Board’s motion to dismiss, finding that the Board’s defense of sovereign immunity was waived because Barnes established the existence of valid written contracts. . Since we find that the trial court erred in concluding that there was a valid written contract between Barnes and the Board, the doctrine of sovereign immunity precludes this action and we reverse.

In his complaint, Barnes alleges that when he enrolled in VSU in January 2007, he provided confidential medical information to VSU’s Access Office. Barnes subsequently signed a VSU counseling services intake form, providing that all written and verbal information provided to the counseling center would be confidential. In March 2007, Barnes posted a series of fliers around the VSU campus expressing his opposition to a planned parking deck, and emailed his concerns to VSU’s president, student government association, faculty environmental committee and others.