California is just second to Texas in the total number of lane miles it has in the state: an impressive 396,540 miles of roads throughout the state. While we would like to hope that all 396,540 miles of road are defect free and perfectly safe to drive on, the reality is that road design, construction, and maintenance are as much beholden to funding and manpower as they are to good intentions. That means that mistakes will be made, defects will be overlooked, and potholes will go unfilled, and these mistakes can and will cause traffic accidents and even fatalities.
What does an accident involving a poorly designed, constructed, or maintained road look like? It can be an accident where a car runs head on into another car due to an unmarked turning lane. It can be where a car runs off the road because of a poorly constructed or absent shoulder. It can be where a turn is too sharp even for the posted speed limit and a car fails to negotiate the turn. It can be as prosaic as an intersection with a flashing light rather than a full-blown stop light leading to a car being T-boned while trying to cross to the median.
In all of these scenarios, the root cause of the accident is not the driver’s fault per se, but rather the manner in which the road was designed, constructed, marked, or maintained – or the lack thereof. The government, of course, is in charge of every aspect of the roads from design to construction to marking to maintenance. On balance, California does not appear to be doing a particularly good job with this in comparison to other states in the country. California spends $18.90 per lane mile and yet it ranks third for the worst roads in the nation with roughly 37 percent of its roads considered to be in poor condition. This means that the chances of you being in an accident due to the poor condition, design or construction of the road are that much higher.
If you find yourself in an accident that you suspect could have been caused by the road’s poor maintenance, design or construction, the first thing to do is to contact a Los Angeles car accident lawyer who is familiar with and has experience handling these types of cases. This is because suing the government is very different than a private suit between two parties or even between insurance companies.
Considerations Before Bringing Suit for Faulty Road Design, Construction, and Maintenance
Determining Liability
The car accident lawyer must determine who is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the road as well as for its design and construction. This could include numerous parties such as the city and the state, as well as contractors and the original firm who constructed the road.
Know Your Filing Deadlines
The California Tort Claims Act (CTCA) is a law that protects the state government from liability in certain personal injury cases. The law basically states that no public entity in California is liable for an injury that it or any of its employees causes. It does, however, come with exceptions that allow personal injury victims a limited opportunity to bring a claim and to pursue monetary damages.
The time limit for filing a complaint against the government under the CTCA is much shorter than with traditional suits for personal injury. In most cases, the government requires that a claim, not a full lawsuit, be filed notifying it of the injury and what happened within a short window. The government could choose to pay the claim, or it could deny it. If it rejects the claim, this starts another clock running on when a lawsuit can be filed. Failure to file within that time frame may bar any type of recovery. A seasoned and qualified personal injury lawyer in Los Angeles will be able to calculate these deadlines and ensure that they are followed.
Know Who to Contact
A qualified Los Angeles PI lawyer familiar with dangerous road condition accidents and poorly designed road accidents will know what experts to reach out to for evaluation of the road and the conditions that caused the accident. This will be crucial in any litigation to prove to the government that there was a fault in the design, construction, or maintenance of the road, and that fault was the proximate cause of the damages and injuries suffered.
Document Everything
Finally, a lawyer with experience in these types of claims will also be able to seek the most amount of damages possible including compensation for medical bills, damage to the vehicle, loss of income as well as pain and suffering. Therefore, it is crucial for you to document everything that happened both before and after your accident. If possible, take pictures and video of the scene and focus in on the areas of the road that you believe were poorly designed or maintained and caused the accident. Document the damage to your car, as well.
Get Evaluated by a Doctor Immediately After the Car Accident
Regardless of whether you have visible injuries, it is always a good idea to go to the hospital to be checked out as often times soft tissue injuries are not immediately apparent but are nevertheless documented by the medical staff. This is a vital step as it will help prove your injuries.
Keep in mind that any claim that you file against the government could also be subject to interference from your personal auto insurer. If you go through your insurance company initially to pay your claim for damage to your vehicle and medical bills, the insurer could then attempt to intervene in your later claim against the government to recoup their payout. This is known as subrogation, and it is essential to have a competent Los Angeles attorney who knows how to deal with insurance companies in this situation because the insurance company will not be looking out for your best interest.
Claims under the California Tort Claims Act for road condition and design accidents are tricky and you absolutely should have a personal injury lawyer on your side who has extensive experience dealing with car insurance companies and these types of cases. Neither the government nor your insurance company is interested in protecting your rights – they are at most interested in making you whole based on their definition of what you have lost. This is why it is vital to have a lawyer who is interested in protecting your rights alongside when pursuing these types of claims.