Having a bad day? It’s only a bump in the road. But what if that bump in the road flips your Harley Davidson on top of you, resulting in life altering injuries?
A man is suing the federal government for $1.7 million after nearly dying in a motorcycle accident when he hit a bump on the Blue Ridge Parkway two years ago.
Approximately 14 people die each year on that stretch of hazardous street.
The first question to figure out is who can you sue? Who owns and controls the road? Generally, local streets are maintained by local authorities, state routes by the state government, and interstate highways are fixed with federal dollars provided to the states.
In many interstate highway cases, it may find a little murky who to sue, depending on the location of the faulty road.
In the man’s case, it was a national highway leading towards a national park, so clearly the federal government is the targeted defendant.
Step One: File a Claim Immediately
In a lawsuit against a government entity, the first thing you must do is file a claim. This is almost always required before filing a lawsuit against the government. Claim requirements vary greatly, but one thing they have in common is a short statue of limitations, usually 6 months or less in California.
The overall public policy for this condition is that the government wants to know quickly if there’s a faulty roadway so that they can fix it quickly, before somebody else gets hurt.
Step Two: Filing a Negligence Lawsuit
If your claim isn’t effective, your next step is to sue the government for negligence. There are numerous different negligence claims you could file, depending upon your accident. In the man’s case, he sued for failing to correctly install sufficient traffic signs; failing to properly maintain safe roadways; and failing to properly warn of dangerous conditions in its roadways.
Again, there is a statute of limitations for filing this lawsuit, but it’s longer, up to 6 months from the date of written rejection in California, or 2 years if not rejected in writing, depending on the governmental entity you are suing. To prevail, you’ll have to prove all the elements of your particular claim.
The governmental entity you are suing is in charge of maintenance
They neglected to maintain the road
They knew or should have reasonably known the bulge was there
The bump in the road was the cause of the injury and your resulting harms One of the harder things to browse is sovereign immunity. Even when the governmental party you are suing is responsible, they may be free from having to pay for damages if they have exercised reasonable care in road maintenance. Meaning, they needed to be exercising gross negligence. As an example, the government may be able to use sovereign immunity if they warned drivers about the bump in the road. In Fisher’s case, there was a warning sign in the street, but it was 25 feet before the bulge, and the normal length to warn for a bulge or rut at highway speeds is 100 feet. Also on the driver’s side is the unfortunate truth that 14 people die annually on that stretch of road, and so the government definitely should have known it was dangerous, and failing to repair it may very well be gross negligence.
Every accident is exceptional. If you’ve been the victim of an accident you believe was caused from improper road maintenance, call a personal injury lawyer that specializes in automobile accidents immediately. Time may be of the essence in filing a claim with the authorities, and failure to do so may preclude having the ability to file a suit. An experienced attorney will be able to listen to your facts, potentially at no expense for you, and know exactly how to proceed.
If you are involved have sustained injuries due to defective roads or signs in California Call our accident injury attorneys for a free consultation at 800-816-1529.
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