Potholes can cause serious vehicle damage and, in some cases, lead to dangerous collisions. When the poorly maintained road you were driving on falls under government responsibility, you might be wondering if you have any legal grounds for filing a claim.
Understanding liability for hazardous road conditions
Most states use sovereign immunity to protect government agencies from lawsuits. Arizona changed this rule and now allows courts to treat government entities like private parties in negligence cases, which means injury cases can proceed when a government actor causes harm through careless conduct.
This change does not make the government responsible for every road defect. The legislature later added limits that still protect agencies and employees in certain situations. For instance, the law protects agencies from liability tied to road design choices when the road met accepted engineering standards at the time of construction.
Navigating the state’s notice requirement
Before you can file a lawsuit against a government entity in Arizona, you must submit a formal notice of claim. This notice needs to be filed within 180 days of the date the cause of action accrues, which is the date you knew or should have known of your injury and who was responsible for the damage.
The notice must also state a specific amount for which you will settle and include the facts supporting that specific amount. Failing to meet any of these requirements, or filing after the 180-day window closes, can result in dismissal regardless of how strong the underlying facts may be.
Proving negligence against a public agency
To recover compensation in a pothole-related crash, you generally need to establish the following elements:
- Duty: The government entity had a legal obligation to maintain the road in a reasonably safe condition.
- Breach: The entity failed to meet that obligation by allowing the pothole to persist without adequate repair or warning.
- Causation: The pothole directly caused or substantially contributed to the crash and your resulting injuries.
- Damages: You suffered actual losses, such as medical expenses, vehicle repair costs, lost income or pain and suffering.
One of the more challenging aspects of these cases involves showing that the government had notice of the pothole. You may need to demonstrate constructive notice by showing the defect existed for a sufficient length of time that the entity should have discovered and repaired it through reasonable care.
Filing your claim and protecting your rights
Once you submit the notice, the government agency generally has 60 days to respond. If the agency denies the claim or does not respond within that window, it is considered denied and you may then move forward with filing a lawsuit in court.
Aside from the 180-day deadline, Arizona law only allows one year to file a lawsuit against a public entity. That is half the time allowed in most standard personal injury cases, which makes it important to move through each step without delay.
