Regina L. Strother and Douglas Strother, Petitioners v. Lexington County Recreation Commission, Respondent

Summary

The court affirmed summary judgment for the recreation commission but modified the Court of Appeals’ explanation of actual notice under the Tort Claims Act. It held that actual notice requires disclosure of all facts concerning the particular defect, but may be established through direct evidence or circumstantial factual inferences; constructive or inquiry notice, which imposes a duty to investigate, is different. The evidence did not create a genuine issue that the commission knew this sprinkler system was defective or that the system was sufficiently similar to other problematic systems to support an inference of actual notice.