NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1971 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 944

HOUSE BILL 1004

 

 

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION TO REVIEW A CERTAIN TORT CLAIM.

Whereas, on October 17, 1967, Edythe Kathryn Huggins was injured while operating a vehicle which was involved in an accident in Davie County with a vehicle owned by the North Carolina State Highway Commission when the operator of the State Highway Commission vehicle allegedly made a left turn in front of the vehicle Edythe Kathryn Huggins was operating; and

Whereas, prior to the accident Mrs. Huggins was a relatively healthy 36 year-old female school teacher; and

Whereas, it is alleged that as a result of this accident Mrs. Huggins received a crushed skull, left eyeball knocked out of socket and injuries to her neck, knee, ankle, foot and left hand; and

Whereas, medical experts have given Mrs. Huggins permanent partial disability ratings of twenty percent (20%) of the knee, fifty percent (50%) of the left ankle and foot, and twenty percent (20%) of the left fifth finger; and

Whereas, it is alleged that as a result of this accident Mrs. Huggins has incurred medical bills of $33,681.47 and received permanent brain damage which will not permit her to perform many of her normal duties; and

Whereas, on January 4, 1971, the case of Edythe Kathryn Huggins vs. North Carolina State Highway Commission and Travelers Insurance Company was heard before the North Carolina Industrial Commission and on February 5, 1971, an order was entered directing the defendants to pay to the plaintiff the sum of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000), the maximum amount allowed under the North Carolina Tort Claims Act, in full settlement of all rights of the plaintiff under the Tort Claims Act by reason of this accident, thus leaving $18,681.47 in medical bills not covered by the order; Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  Notwithstanding any provisions of Article 31 of Chapter 143 to the contrary, the sum of $18,681.47 shall be paid to Edythe Kathryn Huggins, in addition to the fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) already adjudicated as owed, out of the Highway Fund of the State and that sum is hereby appropriated for the biennium 1971-1973.

Sec. 2.  This act shall become effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 19th day of July, 1971.