Can you sue County for pothole damaging your car?

[Murpheeee]

I have a friend who was driving to work one morning in the rain in their 02 VW Golf.
They drove through what they thought was a large puddle, turned out to be a very large, deep pothole.

As she got out of the car, the police were pulling up behind her, which she thought was strange.....
Anyway, the car was undriveable and it had to be towed to VW dealer....the repairs are costing $850

The tow truck driver told her off the record that she was the 5th car that had to be towed from there that morning - explains why the police were there so quickly.

Can she sue the county for the cost of repairs?

 

[ElFenix]

not that i'm aware of

 

[Bushwicktrini]

What county? In New York the answer is no. Besides f they did allow that this city would be REALLY broke

 

[prodigy]

Of course you can sue, whether or not she will win is another story.

 

[Murpheeee]

It's in NJ, I think its Middlesex

 

[RalphWiggum]

Hmm... Call up the Public Works Department and ask for the Claims section. They should be able to help you out. In San Francisco people are constantly making claims about this kind of thing.

 

[Mutilator]

I know here in NC they made a big fuss about this a couple months ago during our ice storms. Basically if the county has prior knowledge of the pothole and doesn't make any attempt to fix it then yes you can make them pay. If they had no knowledge of the pothole then you have to pay to have the car repaired and they'll arrange to fix the pothole.

 

[Murpheeee]

she is looking into it......I was just curious

like has been said - if they paid out to everyone who claims they'd be broke

 

[loup garou]

psh...if you could, Orleans Parish would be even broker than it is now. I saw a statistic on the news a month or so before I left New Orleans that vehicle owners in New Orleans pay on average $700 more than vehicle owners in other major cities for road-related (new tires, shocks, etc) repairs each year.

 

[Moonbeam]

You can in California. I demolished a tire and a rim in the dark and called the state. I could have sought compensation but decided the effort wasn't worth my time. I would have had to miss a few posts.

 

[Thegonagle]

No, but she can make an insurance claim, if she wisely got a report from the cop who showed up.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
decided the effort wasn't worth my time. I would have had to miss a few posts.

sounds like me