Can You Sue a Pennsylvania Municipality for a Personal Injury ?
Whenever you have been hurt because of someone else’s carelessness, one of the first steps in the process of recovering compensation for your losses is determine who may have caused your injury. Often, there can be a number of parties who failed to exercise appropriate care, including governmental bodies. You may have fallen on the broken or icy steps at a poorly maintained public building, or you may have lost control of your car because of a pothole or other defect in the roadway. When one of the potential defendants in a personal injury claim is a governmental body, there will likely be additional measures that you will have to take to secure damages for your losses, and you may have to address issues related to governmental tort immunity. Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers can help you with your compensation process.
Governmental Tort Immunity
In Pennsylvania, as in all states, municipalities enjoy some levels of immunity from legal action. In Pennsylvania, the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act addresses a municipality’s potential responsibility for personal injury damages. As a general rule, municipalities in Pennsylvania may be liable for personal injury claims arising under eight specific areas:
- Municipal vehicle liability
- Injury on municipal real property
- Injury caused by personal property under the care, custody or control of a municipality or its agents
- Injuries caused by trees, traffic control devices or signs, and street lighting
- Injuries involving utility service facilities
- Injuries caused by defective or poorly maintained streets
- Injuries on or caused by defective or dangerous sidewalks
- Injuries caused by municipal negligence in the care, custody or control of animals
Even though municipal vehicle liability is stated as an exemption from governmental tort liability in Pennsylvania, a person injured in a motor vehicle accident caused in part by the negligence of a municipality will only recover up to the full amount of his or her deductible on collision insurance. This limitation applies, however, only if the injured person has collision insurance.
Contact Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers at the office of Neal S. Axe
To schedule a free initial consultation with pennsylvania personal injury lawyers, (856) 795-8788. We check our messages day and night, and will meet with you any time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you can’t come to our office, we will visit you in your home, the hospital or a nursing home facility.
Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyers take all personal injury claims on a contingency basis. There are no legal fees unless they recover compensation for your losses.
