Johnson v. City of Winston-Salem

The gravamen of the plaintiffs’ cause of action is that the defendant Harper, being under legal duty to maintain the drain pipe under his land, negligently permitted it to remain in a known state of disrepair, thereby proximately causing the injury and damage in suit.

The individual defendant takes the position it was the sole duty of the City of Winston-Salem to maintain the drain, and that if this be so, he may not be held actionably negligent for failure to make the repairs.

Therefore, at the threshold of the appeal we are confronted with the question whether the evidence below is sufficient…