Riddoch v. State

Citations

• 68 Wash. 329
• 123 P. 450
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1289

Syllabus

<p>States' — Actions—Liability for Torts — Statutes—Construction. No cause of action is created or liability imposed upon the state by Const., art. 2, § 26, providing that the legislature shall direct by law in what manner and in what courts suits may be brought against the state, nor by Rem. & Bal. Code, § 886, providing that any person having a claim against the state shall have the right to begin an action against the state in the superior court of Thurston county.</p> <p>States — Actions—Liability for Negligence — Acts of Officers —Governmental Functions — Sovereignty. In the absence of voluntary assumption of the obligation, the state is not liable for the torts or negligence of its officers or agents;, and this applies to personal injuries to a spectator, sustained through a defective railing in a state armory, negligently constructed by a state commission created for the purpose, and leased for a compensation to private parties by the state officer in charge of it for the purpose of giving a public exhibition; since the state’s immunity from liability is not confined to the discharge of purely governmental functions of the state, the sovereignty of the state extending to any private enterprise taken over or administered by the state.</p> <p>States — Sovereignty—Private Enterprises • — • Lease of Armory. Rem. & Bal. Code, § 7334, authorizing the leasing of state armories for purposes other than military, upon recommendation of the officer in charge, does not relinquish the state’s governmental functions or amount to the assumption of- a private enterprise, where the armory was constructed for governmental purposes and there is nothing in the military code showing any intent that the state shall engage in conducting a hall for entertainment purposes as a business venture; the lease being a matter of grace and accommodation to the public rather than a business enterprise.</p> <p>States — Liability for Torts — Contracts. The fact that the state makes a contract —