Opinion
July 7, 1955.
Appeal from Court of Claims.
Present — Foster, P.J., Bergan, Coon, Halpern and Zeller, JJ.
The claim is based upon the alleged negligence of the State in maintaining a highway upon which claimant's intestate was driving an automobile when an accident occurred resulting in his death. Decedent was driving in a southerly direction on Route 34 on a rainy morning on August 19, 1950, about 10 A.M. When he reached a point about one and one-half miles north of the village of Waverly, N.Y., his car skidded on a piece or pieces of wet newspaper, causing him to lose control and eventually strike a utility pole. The road was a twenty-foot, two-lane concrete type, with a seven-foot shoulder on each side. No claim is made that there was anything wrong with the construction or maintenance of the highway itself. It is claimant's contention that the presence of newspapers upon the highway constituted a dangerous condition of which the State had constructive notice. There is testimony that at 5:45 A.M., on the morning of the accident, there were from three to five bundles of newspapers about five inches thick lying on the east shoulder of the road about two feet from the edge of the pavement. The road maintenance foreman passed the point at about 6:35 A.M., and did not see them. There is testimony that loose newspapers were seen in the highway itself before the accident at 10:00 A.M. The Court of Claims has found that claimant did not establish that prior to the accident the State had any reasonable notice, actual or constructive, of a dangerous condition, or that any negligence of the State caused the accident. Such findings are amply supported by the evidence. The State is not required to discover and remove everything, no matter how trivial, from the highways within a few hours. To hold otherwise would require the use of extraordinary care to guard against unusual accidents. Judgment unanimously affirmed, without costs.