Suing The Government Over Damaged Roads
January 24, 2022
Would you want to live in a city with a ton of construction constantly being done on the roads? Imagine that every day you make your morning commute to work, the most convenient road to get there happens to be under some kind of construction and slows your otherwise perfect commute. This construction can be doubly annoying when you know that there are other roads out there that desperately need touching up. Each day, the same road that seemingly needs no work at all is constantly getting worked on. Meanwhile, there is another road that could desperately use it.
It can be difficult to understand why one road is constantly under construction when another road, in worse condition, needs to be fixed up sooner. This could eventually become problematic for the city because it is possible to sue the city for its failure to maintain its roads. If you or an attorney, like a personal injury attorney from a law firm like plausibly conclude that the state of the road itself contributed to your car accident, then you have every right to file a lawsuit against the agency that was required to maintain it.
As it always is in personal injury, the first step is to be able to prove negligence on the part of the agency. The most direct way to accomplish this is that you prove that a road has severe damage and erosion. Then, you need to show that there was reasonable documentation and notice that a road has been causing problems with motorists. Once you prove that there have been documented accidents with motorists, you need to show that despite these notices, the agency has neglected to respond to them by touching up the road in question and making it safe for drivers.
One could also go the route of proving that there was a safety-related defect in the planning of the road itself, that the road was doomed to cause injury to begin with and the planners are at fault. This is more difficult to prove than the previous route but is still a viable option nonetheless if it fits the scenario.
When you work with a lawyer, they will discuss the underlying rules that vary from state to state. When it comes to suing government agencies, there’s an extra set of conditions designed to make it a little harder to do so. Some states require that the type of negligence proven must be “gross” negligence. For most states, there’s a statute of limitations that requires you to file your lawsuit in a certain amount of time after the time of injury. A failure to do so means you cannot make your claim. Leave your case in the hands of a good personal injury lawyer and you can have peace of mind knowing that your case is handled. Reach out Hurwitz, Whitcher & Molloy today for more information on how to get started with your claim.
