Napoleon v. City of Santa Fe

35 P.2d 973, 38 N.M. 494
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 7, 1934
DocketNo. 3941.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 35 P.2d 973 (Napoleon v. City of Santa Fe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Napoleon v. City of Santa Fe, 35 P.2d 973, 38 N.M. 494 (N.M. 1934).

Opinion

SADLER, Justice.

The plaintiff, appellee, recovered judgment against the city of Santa Fé for $8,900 by reason of injuries suffered in a fall on the sidewalk paralleling College street in said city. The sidewalk in question was of brick construction. Where plaintiff fell and injured herself there was a depression in the sidewalk about four feet in diameter, the center of which was approximately six inches below the level of the sidewalk.

The depression had no outlet, with the result that water would accumulate in the basin. On the morning in question the accumulation of water in said depression was frozen over with a smooth . coating of ice. The coating of ice was practically level with the sidewalk. Over this coating of ice and the sidewalk there was a slight snowfall, rendering the ice in the depression indistinguishable from other portions of the sidewalk. The plaintiff! returning to her home from church passed over this section of the sidewalk, slipped, fell, arid received the injuries for which recovery was sought, consisting of a broken hone in her right leg and the spraining of her right ankle, as well as other injuries. The right ankle joint remained stiff following the injury, and the court found:

“That the said right ankle joint is stiff and that said plaintiff remains in a crippled condition, and is permanently crippled and will permanently suffer pain 'by reason of said injuries.
“That on account of said injuries said plaintiff has become very nervous and will continue in that condition permanently.”

The defendant knew, or should have known, of the condition of the 'Sidewalk at the place in question for a sufficient time prior to the injury to have enabled it to restore the same to a safe condition for use by pedestrians. The plaintiff’s injuries resulted proximately from the defective condition of the sidewalk at the time in question.

The foregoing narration of the facts fairly reflects the findings of the trial court upon which its judgment is based. It will be sufficient for the purposes of this opinion except as amplified in connection with the disposition of certain points urged for reversal.

The city complains of an erroneous application of the law governing liability of municipalities for defective sidewalks. It seeks to bring itself within the immunity from liability furnished a municipality on account of injuries traceable to slippery condition of its sidewalks from the presence thereon of ice, snow, or water, where such presence is not due to any infirmity in construction or maintenance. The defendant’s difficulty; however, lies in the court’s finding that plaintiff’s injuries were the direct and proximate result of negligent maintenance.

It seems to he settled by persuasive authority that, if the presence of ice on a sidewalk is due either to defective construction or improper maintenance, and the defect alone, or in concurrence with the ice, proximately causes injury, a conviction of negligence is warranted and will support a judgment for damages, provided the municipality knew or should have known of such defect in time to remedy same. 7 McQuillian on Municipal Corporations (2d Ed.) § 2978, p. 183 (190); 2 Shearman & Redfield on the Law of Negligence (6th Ed.) § 363; 43 C. J. 1023, § 1801, under Municipal Corporations; Dracass v. Chicago, 193 Ill. App. 75; Wyckoff v. City of Cameron (Mo. App.) 9 S.W.(2d) 872; Rice v. Kansas City (Mo. App.) 16 S.W.(2d) 659, 661; Town of Cornwall v. Derochie, 24 Can. S. C. 301; Corts v. District of Columbia, 7 Mackey (18 D. C.) 277; Holbert v. City of Philadelphia, 221 Pa. 266, 70 A. 746, 20 L. R. A. (N. S.) 201; Barry v. Akron, 28 Ohio Cir. Ct. R. 728. See, also, annotation in 3 A. L. R. 1130, supplemented in 48 A. L. R. 1154 and 80 A. L. R. 1170, dealing with liability of a municipality for injury resulting from the slippery condition of a sidewalk, in concurrence with a defect therein. The present case falls within the scope of said annotation. For annotations dealing more generally with the question, but excluding cases within the scope of the annotation just’ cited, see 13 A. L. R. 17, as supplemented in 80 A. L. R. 1151.

After stating the general doctrine in cases of slippery sidewalks to he one of immunity from liability, Mr. McQuillian goes on to say: “This rule as to non-liability for slippery sidewalks is subject to this exception: If the danger from the snow or ice on the sidewalk was due to other negligence of the municipality, it is liable; and this exception is equally applicable where the non-liability for injuries resulting from snow and ice is based on other grounds. Thus, it may be that if the sidewalk had been properly constructed in the first place or had been kept in repair, the ice would not have formed, and if this be true and the municipality was negligent in regard to the construction or failure to repair, it is liable. However, in such a case, it is necessary to show clearly the negligence in regard to the defect in the sidewalk, and also that the injury would not have occurred merely because of the snow or ice, without regard to the defect in the sidewalk.”

The author of the text on Municipal Corporations at 43 C. J. 1023 states the exception to the rule of non-liability as though unquestioned. The text reads: “A municipal corporation is liable for an injury due to an accumulation of ice or snow upon a sidewalk where its own negligence caused or contributed to its being there, as where it was due to the negligently defective construction or condition of the walk, or a defective, insufficient, or obstructed drain, gutter, catch basin, or sluiceway for conducting surplus water from a watering trough, a leaky hydrant, or negligence on the part of the municipality in permitting water to be discharged upon the sidewalk from a conductor leading from the roof of an adjacent building, or in failing to prevent the flow of surface waters upon a walk, and in such cases it is immaterial that the accumulation is smooth and level rather than rough and uneven.”

Nor is actual notice of the defect a condition to liability if it has existed for such a length of time that notice will be presumed. 43 C. J. 1025; City of Chickasha v. Daniels, 123 Okl. 73, 251 P. 978, 51 A. L. R. 568; Dracass v. Chicago, supra.

The theory of the trial court was that plaintiff’s injury was attributable concurrently to the dangerous condition of the sidewalk by reason of the depression and the accumulation of ice therein. It found specifically that the defect in the sidewalk was dangerous to pedestrians and had existed constantly for more than one year prior to the date of the injury, and further found: “That said defective, condition of said sidewalk, and the fact that water did accumulate therein, and froze over, forming ice at said place, caused the plaintiff to slip and fall and was the proximate cause of said injury.”

The facts and theory of this ease and those of Rice v. Kansas City, supra, are much alike. There the court said: “In the instant case, the cause went to the jury upon the theory that the hole or depression in the pavement of the crosswalk, together with the ice on the sides thereof and slush therein, combined to produce the injury.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Blackburn v. State
644 P.2d 548 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1982)
Cardoza v. Town of Silver City
628 P.2d 1126 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1981)
Pearson v. Boise City
333 P.2d 998 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1959)
Hammell v. City of Albuquerque
320 P.2d 384 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1958)
Barker v. City of Santa Fe
136 P.2d 480 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1943)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
35 P.2d 973, 38 N.M. 494, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/napoleon-v-city-of-santa-fe-nm-1934.