Legal Question in Civil Litigation in North Carolina

Car window broken at baseball game

I was at my son's baseball game and my car window was broken. This occurred before the game began. It was broken by a player on the home team who was practicing soft-toss with his coach and tipped the ball, which then flew over nearly every car there to the farthest point in the parking lot and busted my window out. The coach was apologetic and said he was sure the school's insurance would cover it after I told him of our $500 comprehensive deductible. We got it repaired (about $480), and called him back. He spoke with the principal, who then responded with the following statement, forwarded from the Director of Finance (who is a CPA):

''As a governmental entity we have governmental sovereignty and are thus

immune. We have no insurance that pays on liability claims. There is

nothing we can do for the parent. If they would like, they can contact

the NC School Board Trust who administers our liability issues and they

will discuss with them our limits of coverage.''

Do we have any legal recourse in this matter, or are they truly immune?


Asked on 3/31/08, 1:36 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Kirby Law Offices of John M. Kirby

Re: Car window broken at baseball game

This is a tricky area of law. The short answer is "it's not clear." In general, governmental agencies have immunity for "governmental" functions, as distinguished from "proprietary" functions. It is not entirely clear where this activity falls. Even if this is deemed governmental, then the immunity is waived by the purchase of liability insurance. In many instances, however, the municipality will purchase insurance that does not cover this sort of claim. Also, even if you can overcome the immunity defense, you will have to show that the school (through its agents) was "negligent." In this case, it is not clear that the school (and its employees) were really negligent. You may want to ask them for a copy of their insurance policy. You can sue them school. It would be preferable to do so with an attorney, but it can be difficult to do so in a small case of this nature.

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Answered on 3/31/08, 9:02 pm


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