Barnhart v. State

At about 7:30 in the morning of May 28, 1957, George W. Barnhart, the claimant herein, was on his way to work. He resides in the Village of Middleport, New York; at 8 North Main Street, a distance of some two or three hundred feet from the bridge in question.

The State of New York maintains a lift bridge over the Barge Canal on Main Street in the village. The bridge was operated in the following manner: as a boat approached the lift bridge, the operator of the boat would signal the operator of the bridge with three blasts of the boat’s horn. The operator of the bridge would then send a bridge…