Estate of Williams v. Pasquotank County Parks & Recreation

On June 10, 2007, Erik Dominic Williams drowned at Fun Junktion, a public park owned and operated by Pasquotank County and Pasquotank County Parks and Recreation (collectively, Pasquotank) (defendant). Williams’s estate (plaintiff) filed a lawsuit in state court alleging that Williams had drowned as a result of Pasquotank’s negligence. Pasquotank filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that it had governmental immunity from the lawsuit because the operation of Fun Junktion was a governmental function. The trial court denied Pasquotank’s motion. The court of appeals affirmed the trial court, holding that the operation of Fun Junktion was proprietary, not governmental. The court of appeals applied a four-part test to determine whether the function was governmental or proprietary, considering: (1) whether the function was traditionally performed by local governments, (2) whether the function could only be performed by a government or whether it could be performed by a private entity, (3) whether the governmental entity charged a substantial fee to perform the function, and (4) if a profit was made from the fee. The court of appeals explained that the second part of the test was the most important factor. The court of appeals found that public parks could be operated by a private entity and thus held that the operation of Fun Junktion was a proprietary function. Pasquotank appealed, highlighting the fact that § 160A-351 of the North Carolina General Statutes provided that the operation of parks and recreation programs was a governmental function for state and local governments.