ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -A New York State Court of Appeals ruling could have sweeping impacts across the state when it comes to liability for potholes and bumps in the road. It came from the case of Henry E. Calabrese v. City of Albany.
Court documents state in July 2019, Henry Calabrese was injured when he drove his motorcycle over a depression on Lark Street. He sued the City claiming it knew about the problem.
"So that pothole where he was injured that had been a prior report through the SeeClick and Report website and nothing had been done. They had received notice electronically but failed to make that area safe," said Paul Harding, Managing Partner at Harding Mazzotti, LLP.
The City argued that its website does not send written notices to its Commissioner of General Services. Before the accident, written notices had to be sent to the Commissioner of Public Works but that department closed in 1988. The wording of City Code was not updated from Public Works to General Services until months after the accident.
"Well, the City itself is the one that set up and allowed the app, SeeClickFix, and that's how they got notice of these defects and then they were claiming, 'Well, that's not the prior written notice that we wanted.' They can't have it both ways," described Harding.
The New York Court of Appeals agreed with Calabrese. Not only allowing his case to go forward but potentially setting a new standard for other cities that use similar types of websites.
"Any case that's pending right now where there was an electronic filing for prior written notice, this is going to be precedent throughout the whole state of New York so that part is significant. If the case is already dismissed for lack of prior written notice well it depends if there's still time to refile, case by case analysis," explained Harding.
NEWS10 also spoke to Eugene Welch, a Partner at Tully Rinckey, about the impacts of this ruling. He noted more findings still need to come out of court as this was a summary judgment, not a trial. "There's still a triable issue of fact that has to be litigated. That is whether or not the Department of General Services actually got the notice of this pothole."
In response to the ruling, Mayor Kathy Sheehan's team stated, "We are disappointed by the decision and working internally to determine how we can adjust our procedures moving forward in response." A number of other cities joined the City of Albany as respondents to this case, including the New York Conference of Mayors. NEWS10 is awaiting a response from that group.
