Monday, June 30, 2008

Stathoulis v. City of Montebello (Cal. Ct. App. - June 30, 2008)

We know that it's possible to sue a City if you trip on a crack in the sidewalk. But can you sue if you trip on a similarly-sized pothole in the road?

Yep.

Read the whole thing if you want to learn the common law about sidewalk and (now, at least) tiny-pothole tripping. Apparently if cracks or potholes are less than an inch or so, they're trivial, so you're out of luck. But if they're larger, or if you can get to a sympathetic jury, you can potentially get paid.

Ah, the life of the common law.