# Coleman v. Cooper

> Court of Appeals of North Carolina · May 7, 1991 · 102 N.C. App. 650

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9854401

## Case

- **Full name:** EVELYN GRACE COLEMAN, Administratrix for the Estate of MONICA AVIS COBB and MARION ANNETTE COLEMAN, Plaintiff v. KATHY LUNCEFORD COOPER (Formerly Kathy Lunceford), WAKE COUNTY Defendants
- **Court:** Court of Appeals of North Carolina
- **Decided:** May 7, 1991
- **Citations:** 102 N.C. App. 650; 403 S.E.2d 577; 1991 N.C. App. LEXIS 465
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Arnold
- **Judges:** Eagles, Parker, Arnold, Cooper
- **Cited by:** 10 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/9854401

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that a cause of action against Wake County as a subordinate division of the State must be brought before the Industrial Commission under the Tort Claims Act

## Opinion text

Judge ARNOLD
concurring in the result.
In regard to defendant Cooper, while I agree that we are bound by the result of the Court’s prior panel on the question of this defendant’s liability, I strongly question the reasoning of that prior decision. Its anomalous rationale appears to allow a *659 claim against an employee in an individual capacity while conferring immunity from liability in a governmental capacity. Defendant’s actions were clearly within this scope.
In addition to the above, parents “have the duty to take every step reasonably possible under the circumstances ... to prevent harm to their children.” Coleman v. Cooper, 89 N.C. App. 188, 198-99 , 366 S.E.2d 2, 9 , disc. review denied, 322 N.C. 834 , 371 S.E.2d 275 (1988) (citing State v. Walden, 306 N.C. 466, 475 , 293 S.E.2d 780, 786 (1982)). Failure to perform this duty is negligence. From the forecast of evidence before us plaintiff was contributorily negligent as a matter of law.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9854401. Public record. Not legal advice.