Sidewalk and Public Property Falls in North Carolina

North Carolina cities have general authority and control over public streets, sidewalks, alleys and bridges within city limits, including the duty to keep them in proper repair and open for travel and free from unnecessary obstructions. A city can be sued in tort for injuries only to the extent it has waived governmental immunity by buying liability insurance (or joining a risk pool or designating a funded reserve), and any judgment is limited to the policy limits. The section read does not address the duties of owners of property next to a sidewalk.

Cities and counties in North Carolina are immune from tort suits for governmental functions except to the extent they waive immunity by buying liability insurance, joining a local government risk pool, or adopting a resolution treating a funded reserve as insurance; the waiver extends only to the amount of coverage, and a verdict above policy limits must be reduced to the limit. The city and county sections read do not set a specific statewide notice-of-claim deadline, and the ordinary statute of limitations and any other applicable notice rules still apply. Claims against the State itself go to the Industrial Commission under the State Tort Claims Act (covered separately).

Tort claims against state departments and agencies are heard by the North Carolina Industrial Commission under the State Tort Claims Act. A claim must be filed with the Commission within three years after it accrues (or, for wrongful death, by the personal representative within two years after the death). The state may pay no more than $1,000,000 cumulatively to all claimants for injury to any one person from one occurrence. Recovery requires that the claimant not be contributorily negligent.

Three years. For personal injury, the claim does not accrue until bodily harm becomes apparent or reasonably should have become apparent, but no claim may accrue more than 10 years after the defendant's last act or omission (with limited exceptions).