Case Name: J. R. OLIVER v. THE CITY OF RALEIGH
Court: Supreme Court of North Carolina
Jurisdiction: North Carolina
Decision Date: 1937-11-24
Citations: 212 N.C. 465
Docket Number: 
Parties: J. R. OLIVER v. THE CITY OF RALEIGH.
Judges: CoNNOR and ScheNCK, JJ., concur in dissent.
Reporter: North Carolina Reports
Volume: 212
Pages: 465–471

Head Matter:
J. R. OLIVER v. THE CITY OF RALEIGH.
(Filed 24 November, 1937.)
1. Municipal Corporations § 14 — Municipality is required to keep streets and sidewalks reasonably safe for use for which they are intended.
A municipality is required to keep its streets and sidewalks in reasonably safe condition for the use for which they are intended, the sidewalks reasonably safe for pedestrians, the streets, except at intersections, reasonably safe for vehicular traffic, but this rule does not necessarily mean that a pedestrian is prohibited from using the streets except at intersections, or that he may not recover, upon a proper showing, for injuries received as a result of defects in the streets.
2. Same — Evidence held to show contributory negligence on part of pedestrian injured in fall on street, barring recovery as matter of law.
Plaintiff’s evidence was to the effect that he was injured in a fall at nighttime when he stepped from the sidewalk into the street, carrying a 160-pound load to his parked car, that at the place where plaintiff stepped into the street there was a five-inch depression where a ditch dug for gas mains had been filled in with broken pieces of concrete and dirt, that plaintiff could not see the depression because it was in shadow cast by ears parked along the curb. On cross-examination plaintiff testified that he had loaded his parked car from the same storage room over that side of the street practically daily for a period of ninety days without seeing the defect or knowing the height of the curb. Held: Plaintiff’s evidence discloses contributory negligence barring recovery as a matter of law, since he either had implied notice of the defect and failed to take care to ascertain whether he was stepping off the curb at the place of the defect, or, if he were not charged with implied notice, he stepped from the sidewalk into the street at nighttime carrying a 160-pound weight without knowing'the height of the curb.
3. Same—
A pedestrian stepping into a street other than at an intersection is required to use a higher degree of care for his own safety than when walking along the sidewalk, since he may not presume that the municipality has kept the street, at such place, in reasonably safe condition for pedestrians.
Clarkson, J., dissenting.
Connor and Schenck, JJ., concur in dissent.
Appeal by defendant from Spears, J., at Third April Term, 1937, of 'W’aice.
Eeversed.
This is an action instituted by the plaintiff to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by him in stepping from the curb of the sidewalk on the north side of East Davie Street, in the city of Ealeigh, into the asphalt street in front of his place of business at night into a defective place in the street, which caused him to fall and suffer serious injury. The city bad permitted a ditcb to be cut in tbe street five feet east of the entrance to plaintiff's storeroom for the purpose of installation of gas or other pipes. The ditch began at the curb and extended out toward the center of the street about five feet and was about eighteen inches wide. It had been filled in with the broken pieces of concrete and dirt which were removed at the time the ditch was dug. At the time of the accident the ditch was 4% to 5 inches deep at the curb, and its depth gradually lessened as it extended out towards the street.
The plaintiff was a salesman for the Toledo Scales Company and leased a building on the north side of East Davie Street for a storeroom for scales he kept on hand.
On the night of the injury plaintiff drove his automobile as near to the front of his building as he could get due to other parked automobiles, went into his storeroom, got a pair of scales weighing 160 pounds and came out to put the same on his automobile. He stepped off the curb into the depression caused by the ditch then existing, fell and received serious injuries. There was evidence that the parked automobiles cast a shadow across the ditch so that the plaintiff did not sec it. The usual issues of negligence, contributory negligence, and damages were submitted to the jury and answered in favor of the plaintiff. From judgment thereon the defendant appealed.
J ones & Brassfield for plaintiff, appellee.
Clem B. Holding for defendant, appellant.

Opinion:
BaRNI-iill, J.
Ordinarily sidewalks are constructed for the use of pedestrians and public streets for vehicular travel, except at street intersections. This does not necessarily mean that a pedestrian is prohibited from using any portion of a street except at an intersection, or that a city in no event would be liable for injuries sustained by a pedestrian while traversing or walking upon a public street at a place other than an intersection. Each case must be determined upon its merits.
All portions of a public street from side to side and end to end are for the public use in the appropriate and proper method, but no greater duty is cast upon the city than that it shall maintain the respective portions of its streets in a reasonably safe condition for the purposes for which such portions of the streets are respectively devoted. Kohlof v. Chicago, 192 Ill., 249; 85 Am. S. R., 335. A municipality is only required to. maintain the respective portions of the streets in reasonably safe condition for the purposes to which they are respectively devoted; thus, the driveway must be kept in such a state of repair as to be reasonably safe for horses and vehicles, but not necessarily for pedestrians. 43 C. J., 1006; 16 Ann. Cases, 424; L. R. A., 1917 E., 710; 19 L. R. A., 221.
In each case tbe way is to be pronounced sufficient or insufficient as it is, or is not, reasonably safe for tbe ordinary purposes of travel under tbe particular circumstances wbicb exist in connection with tbat particular case. 43 C. J., 1011.
But we need not concern ourselves witb tbe determination of tbe sufficiency of the evidence to establish negligence on tbe part of tbe defendant. If tbe plaintiff's evidence is such as to tend to show tbat be was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law, be cannot recover.
Tbe plaintiff bad been occupying tbe building near which this defect existed for ninety days. He testified: "I have-been loading scales all tbe time since I have been selling them; I bad been loading them there every day for ninety days, possibly. I bad loaded them from tbe middle' of the street even. I bad loaded them from every part around there. I have stepped off of tbat sidewalk and tbat curb a number of times at different places, day and night. I never saw tbat bole before. I bad been coming and going night and day for ninety days. I was within four or five feet of tbe place every time I went out, as a rule, depending on bow I could get my car to tbe curb; if I went straight out I went four or five feet from this bole. I didn't have occasion to look right down in tbe gutter. I looked ahead of me where I was walking." He further testified: "I would not know bow high tbe curb is there from tbe street up to tbe sidewalk level. I would not like to say it — I would not like to say because I would be guessing and I would not like to guess; it would be somewhere between two feet and six feet, but nothing near six feet, I am sure. I should think it would be anywhere between nothing and three feet; I think tbat tbat curb possibly would be a little more than one foot high."
If tbe period of time over wbicb this plaintiff bad been using this particular portion of tbe street and tbe conditions under wbicb be used it are considered such as to put him on notice of tbe existence of tbe defect in tbe street, then it appears tbat in tbe nighttime, while carrying a weight of 160 pounds be walked out into the street without first ascertaining whether be was stepping from tbe curb at tbe place of tbe defect. If he bad neither actual nor implied knowledge of tbe existence of tbe defect, then it appears from bis testimony tbat while be was carrying a weight of 160 pounds in tbe nighttime and not knowing tbe depth of tbe curb, tbat is, tbe distance from tbe sidewalk line to tbe street line, be stepped off when be could not see and without first taking care to ascertain tbe extent of tbe drop from sidewalk to street. In either event, it would seem to us tbat this plaintiff has failed to exercise tbat degree of care for bis own safety wbicb tbe law imposed upon him and tbat bis own negligence was at least a contributing cause of bis injury.
He bad a right to go into the street, but when be did so it was bis duty to take notice of tbe fact that it was maintained primarily for vehicular traffic, and to exercise a higher degree of care for his own safety than was required of him while using the sidewalk. He had a right to presume that the sidewalk was maintained in a reasonably safe condition for pedestrians. No such presumption was available to him when he stepped off the sidewalk into the street in the middle of the block when he could not see where he was stepping. He was charged with the duty of exercising for his own safety the same degree of care which he demands of the city. Had he exercised such care it appears that this unfortunate accident would not have occurred.
There was error in the refusal of the court to grant the defendant's motion as of nonsuit.
Reversed.