Marshall v. State
| Decision Date | 06 December 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 44173,44173 |
| Citation | 275 N.Y.S.2d 96,52 Misc.2d 232 |
| Parties | Alan MARSHALL, Claimant, v. The STATE of New York, Defendant. Claim |
| Court | New York Court of Claims |
On or about May 16, 1964, a warm and sunny afternoon, while the claimant, in company with three companions, was walking along the gorge trail in Stoney Brook State Park, he was struck on the head by an unidentified object (which reasonably may be assumed was a falling rock), lost consciousness and recalls no other details of the happening.
Allegedly, his injuries were severe, but no proof was offered at the trial as to the nature and extent since, by stipulation of counsel and with approval of the court, only the issue of liability was litigated.
It is undisputed that Stoney Brook Park consists of about six hundred acres through which passes Stoney Brook Creek, bounded on either side by high rugged banks and somewhat perpendicular cliffs of shale rock formation, which form a scenic gorge leading to a natural waterfall. A foot path designated as the Gorge Trail meanders along the base of the cliffs, first on one side of the creek and then across conveniently placed foot bridges to the other side as demanded by topographical conditions, until it reaches the bottom of the lower falls and thence by a masonry stairway cut into the bank, up and around to the falls beyond. The gorge trail, winding between the high banks along the creek has long been popular with the users of the park, affording as it does, access to the beauty and inspiration of nature at its rugged best, a naturalness which is not always benign and harmless, since on occasion small stones and hard lumps of dirt are released through natural causes and fall into the gorge through which the trail winds.
Approximately twenty-eight years ago to a day, viz. May 17, 1936, in the same park at approximately the same spot and under almost identical circumstances in the case of Trimble v. State, 263 App.Div. 233, 32 N.Y.S.2d 605, reversing 176 Misc. 70, 26 N.Y.S.2d 533, a young school teacher was fatally injured when struck in the spine by an unidentified hard object assumed to be a rock, as she sat on a log near the gorge trail watching the same waterfall. There the court imposed liability for the reason that the warning signs erected at the gorge entrance bearing the legend in 4 high letters
'Gorge Trail Dangerous--Proceed at your own risk'
were inadequate to call the hidden danger of falling rocks to the attention of those who visited the park.
Contrary to the claimant's present contention, we do not regard Trimble as authority for anything more than a reiteration of the common law rule requiring land owners to warn users of unnatural and artificial dangers not readily foreseeable by the users whom they know or should know may be unaware of the condition or realize the risk involved by so proceeding (Cf. Re-statement of Torts, § 342).
While the physical situation in Stoney Brook Park has not materially changed in the years intervening since Trimble, the State, in obedience to the shortcomings of the signs used in Trimble, has made material and, we believe, sufficiently adequate changes in the legend of the signs it now uses to inform the users of the gorge trail of the specific natural dangers inherent in the
area to be traversed, by the wording: 'WARNING PROCEED WITH
To continue reading
Request your trial