The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has vacated an $824,152 judgment awarded to a New Jersey Transit employee who was injured on the job, citing the court’s holding in another recent case that the agency is an arm of the state of New Jersey and entitled to sovereign immunity.

The appeals court’s ruling in Robinson v. New Jersey Transit Rail Operations leaves railroad maintenance worker Quitman Robinson empty-handed despite the severe injuries he suffered in a 2011 accident. The appeals court’s January 2018 decision in Karns v. Shanahan, that New Jersey Transit is an arm of the state entitled to sovereign immunity, dictates that the U.S. District Court’s judgment in Robinson should be vacated and remanded with instructions to dismiss the case, said Third Circuit Judge L. Felipe Restrepo, who was joined by Judges Theodore McKee and Julio Fuentes.