492
Opinion of the Court
"Neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable for an injury caused by: "(a) Instituting any judicial or administrative proceeding or action for or incidental to the assessment or collection of a tax [or] "(b) An act or omission in the interpretation or application of any law relating to a tax." Cal. Govt. Code Ann. § 860.2 (West 1995).
The District Court denied CFTB's motion for summary judgment or dismissal, prompting CFTB to file a second petition in the Nevada Supreme Court. This petition sought a writ of mandamus ordering the dismissal of the case, or in the alternative, a writ of prohibition and mandamus limiting the scope of the suit to claims arising out of conduct that occurred in Nevada.
On June 13, 2001, the Nevada Supreme Court granted CFTB's second petition, dismissed the first petition as moot, and ordered the District Court to enter summary judgment in favor of CFTB. App. to Pet. for Cert. 38-43. On April 4, 2002, however, the court granted respondent's petition for rehearing, vacated its prior ruling, granted CFTB's second petition in part, and denied it in part. Id., at 5-18. The court held that the District Court "should have declined to exercise its jurisdiction over the underlying negligence claim under comity principles" but that the intentional tort claims could proceed to trial. Id., at 7.
The Nevada Supreme Court noted that both Nevada and California have generally waived their sovereign immunity from suit in state court and "have extended the waivers to their state agencies or public employees except when state statutes expressly provide immunity." Id., at 9-10 (citing Nev. Rev. Stat. § 41.031 (1996); Cal. Const., Art. 3, § 5; and Cal. Govt. Code Ann. § 820 (West 1995)). Whereas Nevada has not conferred immunity on its state agencies for intentional torts committed within the course and scope of
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