Pocono News Section

I-Team: Who Should Pay For Pothole Damage?

I-Team: Who Should Pay For Pothole Damage? - Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 5:30PM EST

? Reported by: Jeff Chirico
Thursday, Apr 30, 2009 @ 05:30pm EST
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY --They can wreak havoc on roads and can do a number on our cars. We're talking potholes. But who's responsible to pay for your blown tire or realignment? Tonight Eyewitness News consumer and I-Team reporter Jeff Chirico explains what you need to do to get the city to foot the bill.

Craters in the road... “I had to have a lot of alignments because of potholes. …Can leave a hole in your wallet. ”I asked for assistance in getting it fixed" says Matt Ogonosky of Hanover Township thinks the city should pay for his scraped fender. He hit a pothole as he pulled out of his employer’s parking lot in Wilkes-Barre. He sent photos of the damage to the city; called the public works department. No response. Matt wonders if the city's liable. "I'm sure there are other 16 to 60 year old drivers who are hitting potholes right now and are wondering who's going to have to pay for this."

But Wilkes-Barre mayor Tom Leighton says “we just can't justify paying every time we get a letter saying their car was damaged because of a pothole in the city." Leighton insists the city can't afford to.

But an attorney says you could take the municipality to court. Attorney Matt Cartwright of Munley, Munley & Cartwright says “if you're talking about a pothole that has existed long enough for a bunch of people to complain about it” Cartwright says then the law allows you to sue a municipality if someone reported the pothole before the incident. “It can be somebody phoned in and is willing to testify they did so."

Matt still hasn't heard from the city, so he paid 500 bucks to fix his fender.

One thing to keep in mind --if you damage your car in a pothole on a road PennDOT maintains, you're out of luck. The state has immunity.