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A recent New York State Court ruling has set a precedent for liability in road damage cases, sparked by a lawsuit against Albany over a pothole accident. The ruling may impact how cities use reporting websites like SeeClickFix and could hold them accountable for road conditions. Albany has discontinued use of SeeClickFix following the ruling, with other cities studying its impact.
Wed December 18, 2024 - Northeast Edition
A New York State Court of Appeals ruling on Dec. 17 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 that in July 2019, Calabrese was injured when he drove his motorcycle over a depression on Albany's Lark Street.
WTEN-TV NEWS10 in the New York capital city reported he later sued the city claiming it knew about the problem.
"That pothole where he was injured had been a prior report through the [SeeClickFix] website and nothing had been done," said Paul Harding, managing partner at Harding Mazzotti LLP, the Albany law firm representing Calabrese. "They had received notice electronically but failed to make that area safe."
Albany city officials argued that its website does not send written notices to its Commissioner of General Services. Many years prior to the accident, written notices had to be sent to the Commissioner of Public Works, but that department closed in 1988. The wording of the Albany 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,'" Harding told WTEN-TV. "They can't have it both ways."
The state Court of Appeals agreed with Calabrese and its decision not only allowed his case to go forward but potentially set 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," Harding added.
NEWS10 also spoke to Eugene Welch, a law partner at Albany's Tully Rinckey PLLC, 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.
Less than 24 hours after the Court of Appeals ruling, on Dec. 18, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan's office announced that the city would no longer use SeeClickFix.
"As a result of the decision, we are working to determine how best to balance the needs of our residents and the legal requirements when utilizing the program, which is why we are deactivating SeeClickFix effective immediately," David Galin, a Sheehan spokesperson, wrote in an email to the Albany Times Union.
Gallin encouraged residents to "Call (518) 434-CITY (2489) to report non-emergency issues like potholes, code violations and illegally-dumped garbage until we are able to determine the future use of SeeClickFix in the city of Albany."
The Court of Appeals ruling, however, explicitly said that phone calls do not qualify as prior notice.
Municipal leaders across New York State are sure to note the ruling's impact, according to the Times Union. Many local governments that rely on SeeClickFix to alert them about issues that need fixing suddenly face the possibility that warnings could activate potential liability.
The city of Syracuse and the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials were among those that submitted legal briefs to support Albany's efforts to dismiss the suit.
"We are reviewing the court's decision so that we can develop appropriate guidance for our members on crafting local laws that clearly define what 'written notice' means," said Barbara Van Epps, executive director of the Conference of Mayors.
SeeClickFix also is utilized by the cities of Schenectady, Mount Vernon and Newburgh, according to the Albany newspaper. As of the morning of Dec. 18, those sites were still taking new reports.
Calabrese's lawsuit alleged Albany failed to repair, maintain and inspect the road or warn drivers about its condition, and lower courts with his argument.
The high court also rejected the argument that complaints were invalid if they were not formally forwarded to the commissioner of the Albany Department of General Services.
In 2023, the Times Union analyzed tens of thousands of reports to determine the most common SeeClickFix grievances and how last year's reports compared to those of the previous two years. Albany officials acknowledged to the newspaper that some of the issues reported in 2023 were worse than they had been in a long time.
Potholes and road repairs were among the most common complaints filed last year, with 1,000 such damage reports, the Times Union found.