The continuing question of whether JTA bus drivers are state employees was at the heart of arguments heard by the Florida Supreme Court Tuesday.

In 2005, a JTA bus driven by Andreas Keck hit Ashleigh Eminisor, who sued after injuries and multiple surgeries left her using a walker. The court is not considering if Keck was at fault, but if he can be a part of a lawsuit.

Keck's attorneys argued that because he is an employee of Jax Transit Management, a nonprofit that operates JTA buses, he can't be sued as an individual because he's protected by Florida's sovereign immunity.

Those laws protect state employees from being individually sued and limit damages a plaintiff can win from the state to $200,000.

Stephen Pajcic, Eminisor's attorney, called the nonprofit that operates JTA a "sham" and said it is not protected under immunity laws.

If the court says Keck is not a state employee, Eminisor could get millions.

But there is a larger issue the court must decide in this case. Attorneys for Keck argued that a ruling in favor of Eminisor would "eviscerate" sovereign immunity protection. That contention was met with the argument that proper legal safeguards were being removed as government privatizes more services.

"We are getting this tremendous expansion of government immunity," Pajcic said.

He said Jax Transit was set up to allow its employees to have the benefits of being both private and public employees.

JTA said "we have to set up this private corporation so our drivers can continue to strike and continue to have a private pension," Pajcic said.

Justice Barbara Pariente said "it's hard to feel badly" for an agency that is trying to reap both public and private benefits.

"They want to be public for some purposes, and private for others," she said.