Tait v. King County

Citations

• 85 Wash. 491
• 148 P. 586
• 1915 Wash. LEXIS 1290

Syllabus

<p>Highways — Duty to Repair — Acceptance op Plat. Under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8787, requiring tbe county auditor to keep a record of all plats which, if situated outside of any incorporated town or village must first be approved by the board of county commissioners, and under Id., § 5575, giving the board general supervision over county roads in the county, and imposing the duty to open roads necessary for public convenience, the approval and filing of a plat does not cast upon the county the duty of keeping open every highway dedicated by the plat; but before such duty devolves upon the county, it must have invited the public to use such highway.</p> <p>Highways — Existence—Duty to Repair. The fact that a roadway, dedication of which has been accepted by the county, may have been constructed by a private individual, would not necessarily absolve the county from any duty to keep it in reasonable repair.</p> <p>Highways' — Existence—Evidence—Question por Jury. In an action against a county for personal injuries suffered by reason of a defective highway dedicated in a plat, whether or not the county had impliedly invited the public to use the highway is a question for the jury, where it appeared that the county commissioners approved the plat and it was filed in the office of the county auditor, that thereafter the owner of the tract continued for a period of four or five months to grade the streets, presumably with the permission, express or implied, of the county commissioners, who had actual knowledge that the highway had been graded, promised to send out the road supervisor to look over the matter of repairs, and granted a franchise to put water mains in all the streets of the plat.</p> <p>Highways — Actions—Contributory Negligence — Evidence—Sinreiciency. Plaintiff cannot be charged with contributory negligence, as a matter of law, from the fact that she had knowledge of the hole in the highway into which she fell in the nighttime, where it appears that plaintiff