Alexander v. Brady
Alexander v. Brady
Opinion of the Court
Prior to the recent amendment of section 845, of the Revised Statutes, it was the established law of this state that county commissioners were not liable for damages resulting from their negligence. Their liability is, therefore, only that which the amended statute imposes. The liability is charged upon them in connection with a grant of power and is in the terms following: “The board of commissioners shall be capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded in any court of judicature, and bringing, maintaining and defending all suits, either at law or in equity, involving an injury to any public state or county road, bridge or ditch, drain or watercourse established by such board in their county, and for the prevention of injury to the same and any súch board of county commissioners shall
2. The terms of the statute will not admit of a construction which would impose upon the commissioners a liability with respect to any highways except those over which they have, by its terms, legal control; that is, “over any public, state or county road.” Control of the' streets of municipalities is not given to them. Such control, is by other provisions of the statutes, given to the municipalities, and the liability for negligence is an incident to the control. The allegation in the petition, that the bridge at which the plaintiff received the injury is “on Water street in Troy,” does not show that it is within the control of the commissioners or in any sense a matter with respect to which they may be negligent in the contemplation of law.
It is also insisted by counsel for the commissioners that.the undisputed facts elicited upon the trial
Judgments of the circuit and commoñ .pleas courts reversed and judgment for plaintiffs i/n error.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.