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Sunday, April 18, 2004 Page: 9A
Destroy your Dodge, pulverize your Plymouth or mangle your Mercedes hitting
a pothole?
If the damage occurred on a local road, and you can prove the municipality
knew or should have known about the pothole, and had reasonable time and
resources to repair it, you might be able to get reimbursed under the
Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act.
To have a shot at recovering property damages, lawyers recommend doing
plenty of legwork.
Along with your claim, submit:
Damage estimates from a mechanic
Photographs of the pothole, preferably taken within 24 hours of the
incident
Statements from witnesses or passengers
Don’t dawdle. You have just six months to file notice of a claim with a
municipality.
In the likely event your claim is denied, you might want to file a civil
suit against the municipality with a district justice. Filing fees depend on
the amount of damages sought. It costs about $60 to file a suit seeking
damages between $1 and $500, and about $72 for damages ranging from $501 to
$2,000.
To show the municipality knew about the condition, check minutes of
meetings at which residents might have complained, or ask to see work orders
for the streets department.
Then pray.