Court Opinion

ID: 9659450
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:46:11.030194+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:08.330020
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Justice,
concurring
specially.
I agree with the result reached in the majority opinion, but I am not convinced that the County had no authority to enter into a legal, binding contract on behalf of the County to do the work on the road in question. Section 11-11-55, N.D.C.C., when read together with Chapter 54-40, N.D.C.C., involving joint exercise of governmental powers, could result in a conclusion that the County had authority to contract with the Corps of Engineers and the State Game and Fish Department to improve the road. However, I agree with the majority opinion that if the County Commissioners had such authority it was as a contractor and that the road was built to the specifications and satisfaction of the Corps of Engineers. Because the County had virtually no control over the design, construction, maintenance, or signing of the road, it owed no duty to the plaintiff.