Furlough v. Nash County Highway Commission
| Decision Date | 28 March 1928 |
| Docket Number | 255. |
| Citation | 142 S.E. 230,195 N.C. 365 |
| Parties | FURLOUGH v. NASH COUNTY HIGHWAY COMMISSION et al. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from Superior Court, Franklin County; Sinclair, Judge.
Action by Madeline Furlough, administratrix, against the Nash County Highway Commission, Nello L. Teer, and others. Judgment for plaintiff against defendant last named, and defendant last named appeals. No error.
Highway contractor is liable in tort for failing to properly protect and direct traffic on road under construction.
Civil action to recover damages for an alleged wrongful death caused by defendants' alleged negligence in failing properly to guard a dangerous embankment, fill, or cut, while the road along said embankment, fill, or cut, was being reconstructed under the immediate direction and supervision of the defendant Nello L. Teer.
This suit was originally brought against the Nash county highway commission, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, and others, but prior to verdict, nonsuits were entered as to all of the defendants except the defendant Nello L. Teer.
It was in evidence that plaintiff's intestate was injured at a point outside the town of Nashville, where the road, which the defendant Teer was reconstructing under a contract with the Nash county highway commission, approaches a deep cut or railroad fill, and makes a right angle turn, within a few feet of the edge of said cut, and goes thence along the right of way of the railroad for a distance of about 150 feet, and then crosses the railroad tracks. The road where it runs up to the railroad cut had formerly been at a different point and there was a ridge on the edge of the cut approximately 3 1/2 or 4 feet high and about 4 feet wide. This ridge served as a shield, and protected travelers against running into the cut, down the embankment, and upon the railroad tracks. The ridge was cut down by the defendant while in charge of the construction work in such a way as to conceal the cut from the view of a traveler at nighttime and to give the appearance of a hard-surfaced road leading straight ahead into the town of Nashville. On the night of September 11 1926, plaintiff's intestate, while driving in his automobile along said road, ran into said fill or cut, left in this alleged negligent condition by the defendant Teer and received injuries from which he died the next day.
Upon denial of liability and issues joined, the jury returned the following...
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Huss v. Thomas, 7127SC714
...Co. v. Hertz Co., 256 N.C. 277, 123 S.E.2d 802. See also, Evans v. Construction Co., 194 N.C. 31, 138 S.E. 411; Furlough v. Highway Commission, 195 N.C. 365, 142 S.E. 230; Council v. Dickerson's Inc., 233 N.C. 472, 64 S.E.2d 551; Moss v. Tate, 264 N.C. 544, 142 S.E.2d 161. Without further r......