# Millar v. Town of Wilson

> Supreme Court of North Carolina · December 2, 1942 · 222 N.C. 340

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9812761

## Case

- **Full name:** Mrs. Frank W. Millar v. the Town of Wilson.
- **Court:** Supreme Court of North Carolina
- **Decided:** December 2, 1942
- **Citations:** 222 N.C. 340; 23 S.E.2d 42; 1942 N.C. LEXIS 95
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by DeviN
- **Judges:** Barnhill, Devin, Schenck
- **Cited by:** 46 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9812761

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that a municipality was not protected by governmental immunity from liability arising from a motor vehicle collision occurring on the roadway and related to the replacement of a protective traffic light by city-employee
- noting that maintenance of public roads and highways is recognized as governmental while imposing liability on a municipality for negligent failure to keep its streets and sidewalks in reasonably safe condition as an "illogical" but uniformly applied exception

## Opinion text

DeviN, J.,
concurring in result: The allegation in the' complaint that the truck which struck the plaintiff was owned and operated in connection with the city’s public utilities, from which the city derived a substantial profit, saves it from a demurrer. Hamilton v. Rocky Mount, 199 N. C., 504 , 154 S. E., 844 . However, I do not think this ruling should be extended to holding that the operation of a city truck, used for public purposes and being driven on a public' street in the discharge of a duty imposed for the public benefit, should burden the tax *344 payers with liability for an injury incident to such operation, notwithstanding the discharge of' such duty might also tend to protect the city from liability with respect to the maintenance of its streets. Hodges v. Charlotte, 214 N. C., 737 , 200 S. E., 889 ; Lewis v. Hunter, 212 N. C., 504 , 193 S. E., 814 ; Broome v. Charlotte, 208 N. C., 729 , 182 S. E., 325 . I do not think liability should be imposed as the result of considering matters beyond the immediate purpose and province of the operation involved, which was for the protection of the public.
ScheNCk, J., joins in this opinion.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9812761. Public record. Not legal advice.