Q: I was traveling on a public street and my car was damaged. Is the city not responsible for maintaining its roads?
An officer came out and made an accident report, took pictures of my car and took pictures of the pothole that did the damage. I contacted the city Risk Management Dept. and the basically told me they weren't liable because i'm the only one to ever report the problem. I was sent a letter that referred to Louisiana R.S. 9:2800 saying how the city has to have significant time to fix a problem. But I recently went back to Shreveport where this took place and the road was fixed.
A:
A Louisiana attorney could advise best, but your post remains open for a week. Until you are able to consult with a local attorney, the City of Shreveport's line of reasoning holds true in many jurisdictions. It sounds like the legal theory they are applying is that they did not have notice of the defect. You could see what a Louisiana attorney says, but in most jurisdictions throughout the nation, that line of reasoning would be correct. Good luck
Tim Akpinar
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