## Facts

- A trucking driver spilled corn mash onto a rural highway in Adams County, Nebraska, leaving material on the travel lane and shoulder.
- City and rural fire personnel and law enforcement responded, closed the road, and pushed the corn mash off the pavement into roadside ditches beyond the shoulder.
- A Nebraska State Patrol trooper inspected the scene; officials concluded the roadway was safe and reopened it to traffic.
- The next day, a motorist lost control of her vehicle allegedly due to corn mash that remained near the shoulder/ditch and migrated or was tracked back onto the travel lane, causing injuries.
- The injured motorist and her spouse sued the truck driver and trucking company for negligence and sued the City, a rural fire protection district, and the County under the Nebraska Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act (PSTCA).

## Issues

1. Whether the PSTCA, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 13-910(12), barred claims against the political subdivisions, or instead waived immunity because the hazard was a localized defect of which they had actual notice and a reasonable opportunity to correct.
2. Whether governmental cleanup and a determination that the road was safe eliminated any continuing duty of the truck driver and trucking company to remediate the spill or warn motorists.

## Decision

- The court reversed summary judgment for the City, rural fire district, and County, holding § 13-910(12) waived immunity on these allegations.
- The court affirmed summary judgment for the truck driver and trucking company, holding government intervention and reopening of the road cut off any continuing duty by the private defendants.
- The case was affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part.

## Legal Principles

- Application of PSTCA immunity provisions is a question of law reviewed independently on appeal.
- Under § 13-910(12), a political subdivision may be liable for injuries caused by a single spot or localized roadway defect when it had actual notice of the defect and a reasonable opportunity to correct it.
- A private actor’s duty tied to a roadway hazard may end when public authorities take control of the scene, perform remediation, and officially declare the roadway safe for travel, treating that intervention as a superseding event that cuts off further duty to remediate or warn.

## Conclusion

The court allowed claims to proceed against the political subdivisions because the alleged corn-mash hazard was a localized defect known to officials with time to address it, but it held the private spill-causers owed no continuing duty after authorities assumed control, cleaned the scene, and reopened the highway.


Kimminau v. City of Hastings, 291 Neb. 133 (Neb. 2015)