Michigan Pothole Accidents > Michigan Pothole Accident Laws
Michigan Pothole Accident Lawyer
Michigan Pothole Accident Laws
The governmental agency having jurisdiction over the highway or roadway “shall maintain the highway in reasonable repair so that it is reasonably safe and convenient for public travel.” MCL 691.1402(1).
Therefore, there is a duty upon the city, road commission or MDOT to maintain a road in “reasonable repair”. If the agency breaches the duty, an individual may sue for either damage to their vehicle or personal injury.
In order for the agency to be liable to an individual, they must have actual or constructive notice of the defect in the road before the accident occurs. This means that they had actual notice i.e. someone told the city about the pothole. Or, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, they should have known of the defect AND had a reasonable time to repair the defect before the injury took place. Knowledge of the defect and time to repair the same shall be conclusively presumed when the defect existed so as to be readily apparent to an ordinarily observant person for a period of 30 days or longer before the injury took place. This does NOT mean that if a pothole was only there for a few days that the agency would not be liable. 30 days makes it a per se violation, but that does not mean that an agency can wait 30 days to repair a pothole.
The individual injured on a defective road must notify the governmental agency of the injury and the defect within 120 days from the date of injury. MCL 691.1404(1).
If you have been injured in an accident in Michigan involving a pothole, please contact us by phone at 1.800-281-0606 or e-mail and we will be happy to answer all of your questions at no charge.
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