Tenielle Brown

“The president of UVU, the campus police, those people are not elected, and so if you were to say sovereign immunity is all about letting people decide whether they're state actors or careless at the ballot box, then you vote them out of office,”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown argued that the UVU president and campus police are not elected officials, undermining the sovereign immunity rationale of political accountability through voting.

“There have been a number of cases where the plaintiffs and the family of the victims have sued for either wrongful death or battery,”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown told Fox News Digital there have been a number of cases where plaintiffs and victims' families sued for wrongful death or battery.

“They were supposed to screen inmates to make sure that they weren't violent,”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown described the case of Mika Scott, who sued Utah County after being raped by an escaped prisoner, noting officials were supposed to screen inmates for violence.

“And in some cases, the government did behave recklessly, and they could show carelessness and recklessness and the plaintiffs were not able to prevail because it arose out of a battery. And that's unusual. Most states don't have that broad of a statute.”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown noted that in some cases the government behaved recklessly but plaintiffs still could not prevail because the claim arose out of a battery, which she called unusual.

“ And they're kind of signaling to the legislature that the legislature should probably change the statute to allow for suits in cases like Charlie Kirk's.”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown said the Utah Supreme Court was signaling to the legislature that it should change the statute to allow suits in cases like Charlie Kirk's.

“Unfortunately, Charlie Kirk's family is going to have a very difficult time prevailing in a wrongful death case in Utah,”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown explained to Fox News Digital that Utah's government immunity statute makes it very difficult for Charlie Kirk's family to prevail in a wrongful death case.

“The court said, it may not be prudent for the state to continue to retain immunity here,”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown described the Utah Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Wagner v. Utah, in which the court said it may not be prudent for the state to continue retaining immunity in such cases.

“And then when they went out in the community on the job sites, they were supposed to make sure that they were policing the boundaries so that these inmates couldn't escape and in a really terrible situation.”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown continued describing the Mika Scott case, noting officials were supposed to police boundaries so inmates on work-release could not escape.

“And that's because Utah's government immunity statute is phrased in such a way that says even if the state and UVU were reckless, they retain immunity in cases that arise out of a battery, and that would include gunshot wounds.”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown explained that Utah's government immunity statute retains immunity for the state and UVU even if they were reckless, in cases arising out of a battery.

“That argument doesn't for the UVU president because nobody can vote them of office, nobody is having any political check on the campus police.”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown continued that the ballot-box accountability argument does not work for the UVU president because nobody can vote them out of office and there is no political check on campus police.

“And she could have shown carelessness and maybe even recklessness, but because of the government immunity statute and because this claim arose out of a battery, she was not able to prevail against the state,”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown explained that Mika Scott could have shown carelessness or recklessness but could not prevail because of Utah's government immunity statute and the claim arising out of a battery.

“But the state has not revised the statute and so it still says very clearly that you can't sue the state if the claim arises out of a battery,”

Tenielle Brown · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-19

Brown noted that the state has not revised the statute, which still clearly bars suing the state if the claim arises out of a battery.