Suing a City, County, or State for Injury: Special Rules

A city, town, county, or state government can be held responsible when it causes injuries, just as any regular person or business could be held liable. But unlike regular personal injury lawsuits, you must follow a special procedure and meet shorter deadlines when you want to make an injury claim against the government.

Shorter Time Limits For Injury Claims Against the Government

In most kinds of civil lawsuits, you need to worry about the statute of limitations for getting your case started. In the context of an injury case, the statute of limitations is a law that sets a deadline by which you must file a lawsuit after the incident that led to your injuries. This period typically ranges anywhere from one to six years.

But, if you want to get compensation from the state or local government you think is to blame for your injury, strict time limits often apply to bringing your injury claim. Some jurisdictions require that you start the claim process within 60, 90, or 120 days after your injury. Many states have one time limit for claims against a city, town, county, or municipality, and another deadline for claims against the state or a state agency.

Preparing Your Injury Claim Against the City or Local Government

In most states, you need to get the injury claim process started by providing a "notice of claim" to the government branch or agency. If you don't follow the notice of claim guidelines, you'll likely lose your right to get any compensation for your injuries. You're responsible for making sure that the notice of claim complies with all filing requirements.

Filing the "Notice of Claim" After a Government-Caused Injury

Many cities and other local governments offer online claim forms for you to download, and some are even fillable online, but you'll almost always need to print out a copy and mail it to the right government entity (you usually can't submit the form online, in other words).

Format of the Notice of Claim. In most jurisdictions, the notice of claim must be addressed to each person or entity that caused your injuries. The notice of claim isn't filed with any court but must be mailed (often by certified mail) to each government employee or entity. The notice may also need to be mailed to a single government agency that receives all such forms. For example, in Florida, every Notice of Claim must be mailed to the Florida Department of Financial Services.

Sometimes you need to use a specific government-produced document for submitting a notice of claim. In some states, you can simply write a letter that includes all required information. For example, in Pennsylvania, the notice must include the name and address of the injured person, the date, location, and time of the accident, and the name and address of medical care providers. In other states, you also need to include a dollar figure that represents the total of your injury-related losses.

What Happens After You Send the Notice of Claim? After sending the notice of claim to each government official or entity you think is to blame for your injury, you must wait for a specified period of time—usually between 30 and 120 days—for a response from the government. If the government doesn't agree to settle your injury claim before this time period passes, or if they officially reject your claim (or don't contact you at all), you're usually free to file a lawsuit in court at this point.

Proving Your Government Injury Claim

As with any negligence-based case, it's important to gather as much evidence as possible to support your claim. This includes getting police reports, witness statements, taking pictures of the accident scene and your injuries, gathering medical records and bills, and collecting proof of any lost income or other financial losses resulting from your injuries. Learn more "damages" in an injury case.

The Government Might Be Immune From Your Injury Claim

In every state, the government can largely set the terms under which it can be held responsible for an injury, and there are certain situations where even if you're hurt by something that looks like the government's fault, you can't make a claim. For example, in Illinois, the government is immune from lawsuits for negligence for:

• failure to supervise activity on public property
• negligence related to health and safety inspections, and
• negligence connected to injuries caused by unsafe conditions on government property if the government didn't have notice of the conditions.

In Pennsylvania, governmental employees and entities also enjoy certain immunities from liability, including when it comes to:

• operation of a motor vehicle
• care, custody, and control of personal and real property in possession of the government
• dangerous conditions of trees, traffic controls, street lighting, utility service facilities, streets, and sidewalks, and
• care, custody, or control of animals in possession of the government.

There Might Be Limits on How Much You Can Get In an Injury Claim Against the Government

Some states have set dollar limits on how much an injury claimant can receive in compensation from the government. For example, Florida limits a single claimant's recovery to $200,000 in most cases, while Minnesota typically caps recovery at $1.5 million per claimant. And in Ohio, the amount a claimant can receive in non-economic damages (which includes compensation for "pain and suffering") is $250,000 (standard economic damages aren't capped in Ohio).

Next Steps In a Government Injury Claim

You don't always need a lawyer to bring an injury claim against the city, but it's certainly a wise move in some situations. Learn about what kind of lawyer you need for an injury claim against the city, and get details on making an injury claim against the government in your state (from Nolo.com).