Can I sue the city for failing to maintain safe sidewalks, which resulted in a bike accident injury?
Unsafe sidewalks lead to bike crash accidents.
We were asked this question recently, so we figured it would be a great blog topic. In Florida, you are able to sue a city or municipality for negligent maintenance of its sidewalk. However, it is worth noting that Florida cities and towns enjoy sovereign immunity on civil bike injury cases. This means that if you sue a city for a hole in the sidewalk, which caused you to fall off your bike, the city can only be held responsible for up to $200,000 in damages to you personally.
The better bet may be to sue the private construction company responsible for the sidewalk's safety. If you are able to determine that a private company is responsible for the sidewalk, you can get around the statutory sovereign immunity cap on damages. This type of legal liability determination can get complicated. In order to maximize your bicycle sidewalk injury claim, speak with a bike crash attorney today. Call us at 561-316-7207 for a free consultation.
If you were hurt by an unsafe sidewalk, be sure to take photographs of the hazard. The area may be totally changed when you come back the next day. Try to take cell phone pictures the day of the bike crash. Also, be sure to call the police or paramedics, so a paper report is created. This bike crash report will hopefully list the sidewalk hazard as the cause of the bike injury.