Flynn v. North Carolina State Highway and Public Works Commission

The claim in this case is based on the alleged negligent failure of the named employees of the State Highway & Public Works Commission to repair a hole or break in the surface of the Cane Creek Road caused by public travel over it. In passing another vehicle, the father of plaintiffs intestate drove his pickup truck into the hole, lost control of it, wrecked it, with the result that Terry Flynn, age four years, was killed and the remaining seven occupants were injured. The claimant contends the break in the road surface was of such size and had existed for such length of time as to give the defendants agents, naming them, constructive notice of its existence; and their failure to repair it was negligence. The claimant further contends she has the right to prosecute a claim for damages against the defendant under the Tort Claims Act, G.S. 143-291. The pertinent part of the Act in effect at the time the claim arose is here quoted: