It has been almost five years since a tragic car accident in Venice Beach but Los Angeles has finally agreed to settle numerous legal disputes. The lawmakers in LA County have agreed to pay up to $14 million in damages to three separate families who had filed personal injury claims against the local government. These actions were taken by the families because they believe that the fatal car accident could have been prevented if LA had taken the right precautions.
The basics of the accident
According to police reports, the accident involved a man who drove his car onto the boardwalk in Venice Beach. One woman was killed and several other people suffered catastrophic injuries. There were three lawsuits eventually filed against the county of Los Angeles. These lawsuits accused the county of not installing sufficient barriers and not taking steps to protect people on the boardwalk. When LA County agreed to settle the lawsuit, they are basically acknowledging that they could have done more to keep people and guests safe on the boardwalk.
Yes, you can sue the government
Some people are surprised by this case because they were under the impression that it was not possible for an individual to sue the government. This is not true. What is true is that the government often has what is known as sovereign immunity. This means they are protected against lawsuits in most cases. However, almost all states – including California – have situations that involve waiving this immunity in specific situations. One of the specified situations are issues in which the government acting negligently has resulted in an injury to one or more people.
The California Tort Claims Act in particular allows a person injured, or, in the case of a wrongful death case, the family member of the deceased, to file personal injury lawsuits against the government. In most of these cases, including the Venice Beach case in question, the victims claimed that the government is negligent due to dangerous conditions that existed on government property.
For a family or individual to prove a lawsuit against the government, they must prove that there was a dangerous condition on government property, that the government had time to address it but did not do so, that the government either knew about or should have known about the condition, and that the condition caused the injury or death.
It is also worth noting that there are special rules involving how long a victim or their family has to file a personal injury claim against the government. With most other cases, the statute of limitations is either two or three years. However, when the government is the defendant the statute of limitations is just six months. As a result, if you feel that you have a case against the government then we urge you to contact Law Offices of Michael A. Kahn at (310) 209-1600 as soon as possible.
