You are minding your own business driving when all of the sudden your vehicle hits a large pothole, your car makes a horrible noise and you have to have it towed to the nearest shop. What do you do and who is responsible for taking care of the bills you are now faced with?
Unfortunately this type of scenario happens every day in our streets all across the United States. Potholes, shoulder drop offs, poor construction zone areas, icy, wet and snowy road conditions have caused drivers grief for years. Typically, the city, county or state government is in charge of maintaining road conditions.
However, holding the government at fault for poor road conditions is generally no task you would want to handle without an experienced attorney.
First, your attorney must find out who is responsible for maintaining the road where the accident occurred. This information can be found through a local county commissioner’s office. From there, you must file a notice with the municipality or government that you will be filing a claim.
Before you actually file a claim though, below are several essential pieces of information you will need answers to the following questions:
- What is the exact location where your vehicle was damaged?
- What is the name of the road and the direction you were traveling?
- What were the physical characteristics of the road at the time of the accident?
- Take a photo of what you believe caused the damage.
- What was the exact time of damage?
- Obtain any witness information such as address and phone number.
In your claim, you must prove that poor road conditions are what caused the damage and injuries. You must show negligence and prove that the government knew of the conditions and had “reasonable” time to fix the problem. You must also prove that the government failed to properly warn drivers of potential hazards.
Most importantly, all of this must be done in the proper amount of time. Most states have a statute of limitations of six months to two years.
You do not want to fight the government on your own. An experienced attorney can guide you through this process and tell you if you have a strong case to compensation.
