Thompson v. Board of Educ., City of Millville

Decision Date19 January 1953
Docket NumberNo. A--75,A--75
Citation94 A.2d 206,11 N.J. 207
PartiesTHOMPSON et ux. v. BOARD OF EDUCATION, CITY OF MILLVILLE.
CourtNew Jersey Supreme Court

Nathaniel Rogovoy, Millville, for appellants.

Lawrence N. Park, Camden, for respondent (M. Joseph Greenblatt, Vineland, attorney).

The opinion of the court was delivered by

OLIPHANT, J.

This is an action for personal injuries. The plaintiff-appellant Ruth M. Thompson was an invitee in the Millville Memorial High School a few days after its opening for the fall term of 1950. The school building had been cleaned and polished for the event and the cement corridor was highly waxed and polished. The appellant claimed the slippery surface caused her to lose her footing and as a result of the fall she incurred a fracture of her hip and was otherwise seriously injured.

The theory of the complaint is that the defendant-respondent was guilty of active wrongdoing and positive acts of malfeasance whereby a nuisance was maintained by it. Actually, the insistment is the floor was too highly waxed and polished, that it was so highly waxed and polished that a dangerous condition was created. The husband sued Per quod.

At the trial of the issue in the Cumberland County Court judgment was entered on the pleadings in favor of the respondent on the ground that R.S. 18:5--30, N.J.S.A., was a complete bar to the action. On appeal this judgment was affirmed by the Appellate Division, 20 N.J.Super. 419, 90 A.2d 63 (1952). This court granted appellant's petition for certification, 10 N.J. 344 (1952).

R.S. 18:5--30, N.J.S.A., provides:

'No school district shall be liable for injury to the person from the use of any public grounds, buildings or structures, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.'

This section first appeared in our law as a portion of L.1933, c. 460, p. 1550, which reads as follows:

'An Act establishing the non-liability of counties, municipalities and school districts by reason of injury to the person from the use of any public grounds or buildings.

'BE it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New jersey:

'1. No county, municipality or school district shall be liable for injury to the person from the use of any public grounds, buildings or structures, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.

'2. This act shall take effect immediately. Approved January 10, 1934.'

In the 1937 Revision the provisions of the statute were separated and assigned to two district chapters, (1) R.S. 18:5--30, N.J.S.A., applicable to school districts; and (2) R.S. 40:9--2, N.J.S.A., applicable to municipalities and counties. Except for this editorial change the language remains the same.

The argument of the appellant seems to be that due to enlargement of the doctrine of affirmative negligence or active malfeasance as applicable to municipalities and school districts in the line of cases starting with Allas v. Borough of Rumson, 115 N.J.L. 593, 181 A. 175, 102 A.L.R. 648 (E. & A. 1935), and continuing through Milstrey v. City of Hackensack, 6 N.J. 400, 79 A.2d 37 (1951), that this statute we are here concerned with should be given a different judicial construction from what it plainly says in so many words, or that it should be ignored. The statute is clear and unambiguous and there can be no question of the legislative intent to give school districts absolute immunity, and while the decison of this court in Terranella v....

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13 cases
  • Titus v. Lindberg
    • United States
    • New Jersey Supreme Court
    • March 20, 1967
    ...26 N.J.Super. 9, 19, 97 A.2d 1 (App.Div.1953), modified in other respects 14 N.J. 256, 102 A.2d 44 (1954). Cf. Thompson v. Board of Education, 11 N.J. 207, 209, 94 A.2d 206 (1953); Schwartz v. Borough of Stockton, 32 N.J. 141, 148, 160 A.2d 1 (1960). Apparently the appellants have accepted ......
  • Caporossi v. Atlantic City, New Jersey
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey
    • August 7, 1963
    ...1, (1960), a learned opinion by Justice Hall, for the New Jersey Supreme Court, citing extensive authority; cf: Thompson v. Millville Bd. of Ed., 11 N. J. 207, 94 A.2d 206 (1953); Cloyes v. Delaware Twp., 23 N.J. 324, 129 A.2d 1, 57 A.L.R.2d 1327 16 The 1933 enactment, effective in 1934, R.......
  • Christie v. Board of Regents of University of Mich.
    • United States
    • Michigan Supreme Court
    • September 22, 1961
    ...but supporting appellant's position); Pohland v. City of Sheboygan, 251 Wis. 20, 27 N.W.2d 736; Thompson v. Board of Education of the City of Millville, 11 N.J. 207, 94 A.2d 206; Utz v. Board of Education of Brooke County, 126 W.Va. 823, 30 S.E.2d 342. A minority view is perhaps represented......
  • Dobbins v. Board of Ed. of Henry Hudson Regional High School
    • United States
    • New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division
    • May 24, 1974
    ...had negligently failed to light); and see Thompson v. Bd. of Ed., Millville, 20 N.J.Super. 419, 90 A.2d 63 (App.Div.1952), aff'd 11 N.J. 207, 94 A.2d 206 (1953) (plaintiff slipped on highly polished high school floor). See also Terranella v. Union Bldg. and Construction Co., 3 N.J. 443, 447......
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