Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: I Broke My Foot On a Los Angeles Sidewalk

You need to act very quickly... like right now. It sounds like your claim may be time barred but a true accident date would be required to determine whether you still have time to file the tort claim against the city. Contact an attorney ASAP.

Feel Free to Contact my office.

Re: I Broke My Foot On a Los Angeles Sidewalk

You need to act very quickly... like right now. It sounds like your claim may be time barred but a true accident date would be required to determine whether you still have time to file the tort claim against the city. Contact an attorney ASAP.

Re: I Broke My Foot On a Los Angeles Sidewalk

You would have to prove that the sidewalk defect was not obvious, and that a reasonable person would not have seen the sunken sidewalk.

You should be able to find a government claim form on the city's website.

You might also consider the liability of the adjacent property owners, if any. Often, it is their tree roots that cause a sidewalk to buckle and crack and perhaps water pipe leakage that could cause the sidewalk and supporting soil to subside. Sorry to hear about your injury!

Re: I Broke My Foot On a Los Angeles Sidewalk

Assuming you can still file a claim, the city will almost certainly argue that the defective sidewalk was a

"trivial defect" for which they can have no liability.

We have, for the past year, been prosecuting a claim on nearly exact facts. In order to determine whether or not the city will likely have a valid "trivial defect" claim, it would be necessary to get more information about the defect and the circumstances surrounding the accident.

For example, how was the sidewalk defective? Size and location of the defect? Other circumstances surrounding the accident, i.e., time of day? was the defect hidden? were there any prior accidents on this defect? were there any past repairs to this defect?

Feel free to contact us if you wish to provide more information from which a better assessment can be made.

Re: I Broke My Foot On a Los Angeles Sidewalk

You have nothing to lose by filing a notice of claim against the City. Whether you have a good case will depend upon proving notice of the dangerous condition to the City well in advance of your accident. Tough, but, possible. A personal injury lawyer may be willing to file the notice of claim and investigate to see if there is a viable case.

Re: I Broke My Foot On a Los Angeles Sidewalk

You have a number of good answers from learned attorneys.

Follow every piece of advice. Good luck!