Opinion
No. 203A99
Filed 8 October 1999
State — tort claim — breach of duty and proximate cause — insufficient evidence
A Court of Appeals decision affirming an order of the Industrial Commission awarding damages to plaintiff in a tort claim action for injuries received when a light fixture fell on her head in a building owned by defendant ECU is reversed for the reason stated in the dissenting opinion in the Court of Appeals that plaintiff's evidence was insufficient to show that defendant's employee breached a duty to plaintiff or that any alleged breach of duty was the proximate cause of plaintiff's injury.
Appeal by defendant pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-30(2) from the decision of a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, ___ N.C. App. ___, 514 S.E.2d 301 (1999), affirming a decision and order of the North Carolina Industrial Commission entered 10 March 1998. Heard in the Supreme Court 17 September 1999.
Gray, Newell Johnson, L.L.P., by S. Camille Payton and Mark V.L. Gray, for plaintiff-appellee.
Michael F. Easley, Attorney General, by Don Wright, Assistant Attorney General, for defendant-appellant.
For the reasons stated in the dissenting opinion of Eagles, C.J., the decision of the Court of Appeals, which affirmed the decision and order of the Industrial Commission, is reversed. This case is remanded to the Court of Appeals for further remand to the Industrial Commission for entry of judgment in favor of defendant State of North Carolina, East Carolina University.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.