Coulter v. Catawba County Board of Education

657 S.E.2d 428, 189 N.C. App. 183, 2008 N.C. App. LEXIS 414
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedMarch 4, 2008
DocketCOA07-717
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 657 S.E.2d 428 (Coulter v. Catawba County Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coulter v. Catawba County Board of Education, 657 S.E.2d 428, 189 N.C. App. 183, 2008 N.C. App. LEXIS 414 (N.C. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

STEELMAN, Judge.

The Industrial Commission’s findings of fact are supported by competent evidence, and the Industrial Commission did not err in concluding that.plaintiffs failed to prove that defendant’s employee was negligent and that the negligence of defendant’s employee caused injury to the minor plaintiff.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

On 17 August 2001, Joshua Coulter (plaintiff) was a student passenger on a school bus driven by Brenda Foster (Foster), an employee of the Catawba County Board of Education (defendant). At approximately 3:30 p.m., Foster was returning to Webb A. Murray Elementary School in Newton, N.C. Foster was traveling on Section House Road towards Garren Drive, the driveway leading into the school. As Foster was making the right turn onto Garren Drive, she saw a car coming towards her at a “fairly fast rate of speed.” The front tire of the car was across the center line and in Foster’s lane of travel. In order to avoid a collision, Foster turned the bus to the right, causing the rear tire to hit the curb. When the tire went over the curb, plaintiff was thrown against the side window of the bus, breaking the window. Plaintiff was taken to the hospital and treated for cuts to his left neck, chin, upper lip, and scalp.

On 12 August 2004, plaintiffs filed this action against defendant pursuant to Article 31 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes (Tort Claims Act). This matter was docketed and heard by the North Carolina Industrial Commission. On 2 February 2007, the Industrial Commission filed its Opinion and Award, which held that “Plaintiff *185 failed to prove that defendant was negligent and that negligence caused the damages of which plaintiff complains.” Plaintiffs appeal.

II. Commission’s Dismissal of Plaintiff’s Claim

In their first argument, plaintiffs contend the Commission erred in dismissing their claim. We disagree.

The North Carolina Tort Claims Act provides for payment of damages for personal injuries sustained by any person

as a result of the negligence of any officer, employee, involuntary servant or agent of the State while acting within the scope of his office, employment, . . . under circumstances where the State of North Carolina, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant in accordance with the laws of North Carolina.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-291 (2007). “To recover under the Tort Claims Act, plaintiff must show that the injuries sustained by his son were the proximate result of a negligent act of a state employee acting within the course and scope of his employment.” Bolkhir v. N.C. State Univ., 321 N.C. 706, 709, 365 S.E.2d 898, 900 (1988) (citations omitted). “Under the Act, negligence is determined by the same rules as those applicable to private parties.” Id. (citation omitted). “Negligence is the failure to exercise proper care in the performance of a legal duty which the defendant owed the plaintiff under the circumstances surrounding them.” Dunning v. Warehouse Co., 272 N.C. 723, 725, 158 S.E.2d 893, 895 (1968) (citation omitted).

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-293 governs appeals from the Industrial Commission to this Court, and provides in pertinent part:

. . . Such appeal shall be for errors of law only under the same terms and conditions as govern appeals in ordinary civil actions, and the findings of fact of the Commission shall be conclusive if there is any competent evidence to support them. . . .

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-293 (2007).

On appeal, this Court does not have the right to weigh the evidence and decide the issue on the basis of its weight. The Court’s duty goes no further than to determine whether the record contains any evidence tending to support the finding.

McGee v. N.C. Dep’t of Revenue, 135 N.C. App. 319, 324, 520 S.E.2d 84, 87-88 (1999) (citations and quotations omitted).

*186 Plaintiffs argue that Foster made inconsistent statements, and that these alleged inconsistent statements prove that she was negligent and that this negligence was the proximate cause of the minor plaintiffs injuries.

The Commission found that:

16. As a whole Ms. Foster’s testimony is credible. Though there are slight differences in Ms. Foster’s reported statements, they are not inconsistent to the point of making Ms. Foster’s testimony not believable.

While Foster’s testimony was not totally consistent, there is competent evidence in the record to support the Commission’s findings of fact. See Vaughn v. Insulating Servs., 165 N.C. App. 469, 472, 598 S.E.2d 629, 631 (2004) (citation omitted). “Moreover, the Commission is the sole judge of the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given the evidence.” Id. (citation omitted).

Plaintiffs point to an alleged statement by Foster to Ms. Coulter that she was going faster than she should have been. However, Foster did not recall making this statement. Foster also testified that she was going less than five miles per hour when she turned off of Section House Road. This testimony is supported by the report prepared by Clarence Teague, Director of Transportation for defendant.

Plaintiffs further contend that the Industrial Commission’s findings of fact 7-11 were not supported by the evidence. These findings read as follows:

7. Thereáfter, Ms. Foster’s attention was focused on turning onto Garren Drive.
8. Ms. Foster slowed her bus, checked her reference points and mirrors and specifically recalled looking out her bus door and seeing the curb, as she was trained to do in order to miss hitting the curb.
9. As she was making the turn, Ms. Foster estimated her speed to be less than five miles per hour.
10. As Ms. Foster was turning onto Garren Drive, she saw a small, dark vehicle coming off of Garren Drive at a high rate of speed toward her school bus and dart across the centerline.
11. Ms. Foster reacted to the oncoming vehicle in her lane by turning the school bus sharply to the right causing the rear tire of the school bus to go up on the curb and off again.

*187 There is competent evidence in the record to support these findings. Foster testified as to facts supporting each of these findings, and the Commission found her testimony to be credible and determined the appropriate weight to give to it. See Vaughn, 165 N.C. App. at 472, 598 S.E.2d at 631.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
657 S.E.2d 428, 189 N.C. App. 183, 2008 N.C. App. LEXIS 414, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coulter-v-catawba-county-board-of-education-ncctapp-2008.