Kimminau v. City of Hastings
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs filed this personal injury action alleging that Plaintiff was injured after she lost control of her vehicle due to corn mash that had spilled from a truck onto the highway the previous day. Plaintiff brought this action against the driver of the truck, the driver’s employer, and three political subdivisions. The district court entered summary judgment in favor of all named defendants, concluding (1) the political subdivisions were immune from suit under Neb. Rev. Stat. 13-910(12); and (2) the actions of firefighters and a state trooper in conducting the cleanup of the corn mash spill and declaring the road safe for travel eliminated any duty on the part of the driver and his employer to remediate the spill. The Supreme Court (1) affirmed the district court’s judgment with respect to the driver and his employer, holding the actions of the firefighters and state trooper who responded to the spill and opened the road for traffic cut off any duty that these defendants had to remediate the spill or warn of the hazard it posed to other motorists; but (2) reversed the district court’s judgment in favor of the three political subdivisions, holding that these defendants’ sovereign immunity was waived pursuant to section 13-910(12).
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