Stephens v. Comm'rs of Palisades Interstate Park

Decision Date17 November 1919
Citation108 A. 645
PartiesSTEPHENS v. COMMISSIONERS OF PALISADES INTERSTATE PARK.
CourtNew Jersey Supreme Court

Appeal from Supreme Court.

Action by Robert L. Stephens, administrator ad pros., etc., against the Commissioners of the Palisades Interstate Park, a corporation. Judgment for defendant on motion for determination of question of law before trial, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Memorandum by Parker, J., in the court below:

The action is for negligence. As I recollect the complaint, which at this writing is not before me, plaintiff's intestate is claimed to have sustained fatal injuries by reason of the defective condition of a pathway in the Palisades Interstate Park, under the control of the defendant corporation, and plaintiff alleges that such condition was due to defendant's negligence. The answer set up, among other things, that conceding this, no legal liability therefor rested on the defendant; and, as this goes to the root of the case, the matter is properly brought up for determination in advance of trial pursuant to rule 40. At the argument 1 expressed the tentative view that the point was well taken; and a careful reading of plaintiff's brief, since received, fails to impress me to the contrary.

The Palisades Park commission, created by the act of 1900 (P. L. p. 163; C. S. p. 3890), is a state agency charged with a public duty, to wit, the acquisition and development and improvement of land for a great public park along the Palisades in the states of New Jersey and New York. It performs no private functions; the commissioners are not even compensated. It may be likened to the corporations called the "State Home for Girls" (C. S. p. 4888), the "State Home for Boys" (Id., p. 4880), and the "State Reformatory for Women" (Id., p. 4931). All these are incorporated. The State Reformatory commissioners, on a hasty glance at the act (C. S. p. 4929), seem to be unincorporated. But all are public bodies charged with public duties by direct mandate of the state, and never, so far as I know, has any been held liable for negligence.

The present defendant is, I think, undeniably within the same class, and plainly within the rule laid down in Freeholders v. Strader, 18 N. J. Law, 108. 35 Am. Dec. 530, and vigorously adhered to in all later decisions, that a public agency charged with a public duty is not liable to an individual member of the public for negligence in the performance of that duty. It is true that most of the...

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24 cases
  • Taylor v. New Jersey Highway Authority
    • United States
    • New Jersey Supreme Court
    • November 5, 1956
    ...on Sussex County, Board of Chosen Freeholders of, v. Strader, 18 N.J.L. 108 (Sup.Ct.1840), and Stephens v. Com'rs of Palisades Inter. Park, 93 N.J.L. 500, 108 A. 645 (E. & A.1919), which should be considered along with the other pertinent decisions in our courts and In the Strader case the ......
  • Caporossi v. Atlantic City, New Jersey
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey
    • August 7, 1963
    ...by electric wire on street, the municipality supplying electric service to private consumers; Stephens v. Commissioners of Palisades Interstate Park, 93 N.J.L. 500, 108 A. 645 (E. & A. 1919), a case involving a broader concept—the defendant interstate (N. J. and N.Y.) Commission was directl......
  • State Highway Commission v. Knight
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • April 9, 1934
    ... ... Gully, 145 So. 351; ... Stephens v. Beaver Dam Drainage District, 123 Miss ... 884; Dick ... Stevens v. Commissioner [170 Miss. 62] of Palisades ... Interstate Park, 108 A. 645; Mullinax v ... ...
  • Casale v. Housing Authority of City of Newark
    • United States
    • New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division
    • October 5, 1956
    ...is to be accorded the immunity given a municipality in connection with such an activity. Cf. Stephens v. Comm'rs of Palisades Inter. Park, 93 N.J.L. 500, 108 A. 645 (E. & A.1919); see N.J.S.A. 55:14A--7, Mrs. Casale was injured at 9:30 P.M., January 12, 1954, as a result of slipping, allege......
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