Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: How To Deal With The City!

Yes you can sue the city, but you must act immediately as there is a 6 month time limit to filing a claim against a governmental entity. Contact an attorney immediately if the six months has not passed. Your symptoms indicate that you have a substantial claim. I cannot emphasize strongly enough that you must act now.

Re: How To Deal With The City!

Anyone of legal age who has the required filing fee can sue nearly anyone for anything.

The real questions are, do you have rights that have been violated and can you win.

When suing a governmental agency, a formal claim (different from a lawsuit) must be filed within six months. There are some provisons for filing a late claim up to one year from the injury, but the situations under which a late claim is allowed are rare and unique (minor's have a better chance). After the denial of the late claim by the governmental agency, a claimant has six additional months to properly file suit.

Then there is the matter of the alleged defect (the hole). In order to win (in my experience and judgment) the hole must be a significant defect in the alignment of the concret curb and the asphalt street (I am making the assumption that this is where your injury occured. If not the principal is the same.) However, if the defect is VERY significant, the issue comes up, WHY DIDN'T THE INJURED PARTY SEE IT. So the defect must be significant enough to pose a danger that should have been fixed, yet not so obvious that a jury would expect that the injured party should have seen it and avoided it.

Then there is the issue of notice. Did the governmental agency have notice of the defect? Without "notice" of the defect the governmental agency has no liability. However, if the governmental agency "should have known" of the defect or if they caused the defect, the "notice" requirement is satisfied.

Bottom line, get good guality legal assistance from a law firm that specializes in personal injury. Slip, trip and fall cases, in my opinion, are some of the most difficult to win in California. It takes a really dedicated and talented law firm to get full value for these type cases.

BISNAR & CHASE as recovered over a $1,000,000 on a single slip/trip/fall case as well as many cases in the six figure range (my first six figure slip/trip/fall case was nearly $300,000 in 1983).

John Bisnar, Senior Partner, BISNAR & CHASE, Personal Injury Attorneys & Counselors at Law, www.serious-injury-law.com, [email protected], 800-956-0123. We handle cases through out California. Out of California cases are handled in conjunction with local law firms.

Re: How To Deal With The City!

The question is not if you can sue, but rather if you will prevail. One main factor to determine if you have a viable case is to find out if the City had NOTICE of the defective street. One normally finds this out during the discovery stage of the suit. If you would like to discuss the matter in detail, give me a call at 310-772-2274.