Can Calif. be Sued in Another State’s Court?

FRESNO, Calif. (KMJ) — A 24-year battle between California tax collectors and a computer-chip entrepreneur, is headed back to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gilbert Hyatt was working in Los Angeles in 1990, where he won a critical patent on a computer microprocessor.

He claims he moved to Nevada, a state with no income tax, in September of 1991. But California says he didn’t move, until April of 1992.

The decades-old dispute is over the tens of millions of dollars the Franchise Tax Board says he earned in royalties.

Hyatt sued California in Nevada, alleging a violation of privacy, and emotional distress.

However, California argues that sovereign immunity does not allow a sovereign state, to be placed at the mercy of foreign juries.