SNOW IN MEDIAN HELD AGAINST COUNTY ROAD COMMISSIONER IN MINNESOTA

A Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision and found that Dakota County was liable for an accident caused by snow that had been plowed into a median. The lower court finding that the County was immune, was appealed by the accident victim. The County moved for summary judgement on the grounds that snow removal from intersections was a discretionary act and, therefore, immune from civil liability. In addition the County argued that it was immune under another Minnesota statute which grants immunity for snow and ice conditions on county highways. On the latter question, it was determined that the public entity is immune except when the condition is affirmatively caused by the negligent acts of the municipality. The Appeal Court ordered a new trial because the actual plowing is an operational, or ministerial function of the County, while the requirement to have a procedure for plowing is a discretionary function.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/0884612X
• Corporate Authors:

  TranSafety, Incorporated

  8136 Old Keene Mill Road, Suite B-101
  Springfield, VA  United States  22152
• Publication Date: 1986-11

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 1-2
• Serial:
  • TRANSAFETY REPORTER
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue Number: 11
  • Publisher: TranSafety, Incorporated
  • ISSN: 0884-612X

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Courts; Immunity (Law); Intersections; Laws; Liability; Local government; Medians; Negligence; Snow removal; Traffic crashes
• Old TRIS Terms: Discretionary powers
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Maintenance and Preservation; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00461916
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 31 1987 12:00AM