Dixon v. Town Of Wake Forest
| Decision Date | 08 November 1944 |
| Docket Number | No. 450.,450. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | DIXON. v. TOWN OF WAKE FOREST. |
Appeal from Superior Court, Wake County; W. C. Harris, Judge.
Civil action by Willie C. Dixon, administratrix of B. B. Dixon, deceased, against the Town of Wake Forest for alleged wrongful death. From a judgment overruling a demurrer to the complaint, defendant appeals assigning error.
Reversed.
Civil action for recovery for alleged wrongful death, G.S. § 28-173, heard upon demurrer to complaint.
Plaintiff in complaint filed alleges substantially these facts:
1. That B. B. Dixon, the intestate of plaintiff, came to his death on 10 May, 1942, by reason of burns and suffocation when fire ignited and burned inflammable matter in the cell of the prison or lockup maintained by defendant, The Town of Wake Forest, a municipal corporation, in which prison or lockup he had been placed by the night policeman of said town at a time when he, the intestate, was "in a helpless and mentally irresponsible condition."
2. That the said prison or lockup which the defendant maintained at that time, and in which it undertook to confine all such persons as in the judgment of its police officers it was proper to so confine, was located at the rear of the ground floor of a a brick building and over a basement in which the town truck, and coal, and other materials were stored, and consisted of two cells and a passageway, with no windows or other openings to which a prisoner locked in either cell might gain access in order to save himself from suffocation; that there was in the cell, in which intestate of plaintiff was confined, a "quantity of inflammable material consisting of two cotton mattresses and blankets"; and that there were no attendants provided by defendant to release a prisoner, particularly one in an irresponsible condition, such as was the plaintiff's intestate, in the event of a fire in the prison.
3. That the town of Wake Forest, with population of 2000 inhabitants, "with one of the largest educational institutions in the State within its corporate limits, and with a large cotton mill in close proximity thereto, " is "well able not only to provide for the patrol of its streets and other police duties, but to * * * provide an attendant for its prison where irresponsible persons are habitually imprisoned."
4. That the death of intestate of plaintiff was the direct and proximate result of the negligence of defendant (a) in so constructing the prison that a person locked therein could not, in case of fire, escape therefrom or gain access to a window or other opening in order to save himself from death by burning or suffocation, and (b) in failing to provide proper...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Rhyne v. Town of Mount Holly
... ... Fountain, 165 N.C. 166, 80 S.E. 1059, 52 L.R.A., N.S., 942; Dixon v. Wake Forest, 224 N.C. 624, 31 S.E.2d 853; Gentry v. Hot Springs, 227 N.C. 665, 44 S.E.2d 85; ... ...
-
State ex rel. Hayes v. Billings
...Hobbs v. City of Washington, 168 N.C. 293, 84 S.E. 391; Parks v. Town of Princeton, 217 N.C. 361, 8 S.E.2d 217; Dixon v. Town of Wake Forest, 224 N.C. 624, 31 S.E.2d 853; Gentry v. Town of Hot Springs, 227 N.C. 665, 44 S.E.2d However, in Manuel v. Commissioners, supra, 98 N.C. 9, 3 S.E. 829......
-
Gentry v. Town of Hot Springs
...we perceive no distinguishable difference between this case and the case of Dixon v. Town of Wake Forest, 224 N.C. 624, 31 S.E.2d 853. The Dixon case itself predicated on Parks v. Town of Princeton, 217 N.C. 361, 8 S.E.2d 217, and Nichols v. Town of Fountain, 165 N.C. 166, 80 S.E. 1059, 52 ......
-
Gentry v. Town Of Hot Springs
...200 N.C. 483, 157 S.E. 431), we perceive no distinguishable difference between this case and the case of Dixon v. Town of Wake Forest, 224 N.C. 624, 31 S.E.2d 853. The Dixon case was itself predicated on Parks v. Town of Princeton, 217 N.C. 361, 8 S.E.2d 217, and Nichols v. Town of Fountain......