Ray v. N.C. Department of Transportation

HUNTER, JR., Robert N., Judge.

Plaintiffs appeal from the 13 July 2010 Order of the North Carolina Industrial Commission, which held that the public duty doctrine applied to bar Plaintiffs’ claims and that those claims were therefore dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6) of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiffs argue that the public duty doctrine does not apply and that the Full Commission erred in dismissing their case. We agree.

I. Factual & Procedural Background

On 31 August 2002, Mickela S. Nicholson was driving her vehicle on RP 1010, a state-maintained road, in Johnston County.…