Friedman v. State of New York
Court of Appeals of New York
493 N.E.2d 893 (1986)
This consolidated decision resolved three separate accident cases against the state. Friedman (plaintiff) was struck by oncoming traffic on a road where the state had studied and decided, five years earlier, to build a median barrier but never did so before the accident. Cataldo (plaintiff), in a 1973 accident on a different road, sued after the state studied that road between 1962 and 1972 and decided against a barrier, though it restudied the same road in 1974 and then decided to build one. Muller (plaintiff) was injured in a 1977 accident on that same road, after the state had decided to build a barrier in 1974 but still hadn't done so. Each driver sued the state or a state authority for negligently failing to build a median barrier; the trial courts ruled variously for and against the drivers, and the Appellate Division reversed in Cataldo's and Muller's favor, prompting the appeals.
Whether the state may be held liable for injuries caused by a dangerous highway condition after it has reasonably studied the danger and decided against a safety measure, or after it has decided a measure is needed but has not yet implemented it.