Notes for Levi Henderson Hipp




			The Ancestors of D O N N A J O Y J O H N S O N of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Notes for Levi Henderson Hipp

Moved to Lee County, NC

From the "Charlotte Daily Observer," Monday, October 11, 1915

OFFICIALS LIABLE FOR NEGLIGENCE
Supreme Court Holds That Suit for Damage is Permissible
DECISION HIPP CASE
Failure to Perform Specific Official Duties Is Ground for Action if Injury Results

You can't sue a county, but you can sue a county commissioner.
That is the long and the short of a recent Supreme Court decision of far-reaching significance and consequence.
In the case of Hipp versus Farrell, which was argued before the high tribunal a few weeks ago by Mr. Carol Taliaferro of the local law firm of Clarkson & Taliaferro, the court sustained the contention that the highway commissioners of Lee County are liable in damages to persons who are injured by their neglect of duty. It is said that the point had not been raised in this State heretofore in these circumstances and hence the importance of the decision.
It was contended by the plaintiff, a former Mecklenburg man, that "the defendants, in violation of the duties and obligations imposed upon them by law, knowingly, negligently and carelessly allowed the approach on the Sanford side of the Lockville bridge in Lee County to be and remain out of repair, unsafe, and in a condition dangerous to those using the bridge for a space of over 50 days prior to and including the 17th day of November, 1914, during all of which said time the timbers and joists of the said approach were in a rotten, weak and dangerous condition; that, on the 6th day of October, 1914, the defendants, while in a meeting assembled in Sanford, were duly and formally advised and notified" that the bridge was in dangerous condition. On November 27, 1914, the plaintiff drove on the bridge two mules attached to a wagon, the approach collapsed and driver and mules were hurt.
The defendants demurred to the complaint on the ground that there was no community of interest amongst the defendants with respect to the alleged cause of action and because it had not been alleged that they acted other than negligently. Mr. A. F. F. Seawell appeared for the defendants. The case came up at Lee County court May 13 and Judge Bond over-ruled the demurrer.
(article continues at length)

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