IF I TRIP ON AN UNEVEN SIDEWALK IN VENTURA OR OXNARD OR ANYWHERE, WHO DO I SUE?

So, you decided to go for a walk downtown in the town or city that you live in.  Your doctor says you need to walk for your health and today was a beautiful day.  It is early in the afternoon and downtown with all of its shops and restaurants is busy with locals and tourists.  The streets are lined with beautiful trees and some of the sidewalks are uneven because the roots of some of these older trees have pushed their way to the surface; thereby creating gaps or broken ridges in the cement. 

                Of course, you are looking straight ahead for the next restaurant, when your great toe of your right foot comes into contact with a two-inch high ridge in the sidewalk; and you lose your balance, falling forward, attempting to brace for the impact.  Fortunately, you only fracture your left hand but save your face.  There are witnesses that help you and they call for an ambulance.  Some of these good Samaritans also take photographs with their cell phones of the sidewalk where you fell.

                After you are released from the hospital, you decide to see an attorney who can help you recover your medical and hospital expenses.  You make the right choice, and call a personal injury lawyer.  At the initial conference, you ask the attorney who is responsible for my fractured hand and the months of physical therapy you had to endure.  The attorney tells you that he will need to investigate who owns the sidewalk and who is responsible for its maintenance.

                This investigation is very important to determine the applicable statute of limitations.  As you are aware, there is a period of time in which a lawsuit must be filed or failure to do so, will result in your loss of rights.  If the sidewalk is owned by the city, a government entity, then a written claim has to be presented to the government, whether a city, county, state, or federal entity, the requirement is the same.  In California, this claim presentation requirement must be presented six (6) months after your fall causing your bodily injuries.  I suspect that many other jurisdictions have similar claim presentation limitation periods. If you fail do to so, then you lose all of your rights, and attempting to present a late claim will also not succeed, 99% of the time. 

                 If your lawyer’s investigation reveals that there are other responsible parties, such as sidewalk maintenance companies hired by the city, then a different statute of limitations period may apply.  These other parties are not government entities but private companies, then the two (2) year California statute of limitations will apply.  This means that you have two (2) years from the date of your injury producing fall in which to file a lawsuit.  There is no claims presentation requirement.   Other jurisdictions may have similar limitations periods. 

                There is one more limitation period to be concerned and that is, when the government entity rejects your claim, which they do 99% of the time, you will be given written notice that you will have six (6) months from the date of the rejection letter to file your lawsuit. 

                These are some very basic lessons.  The skilled personal injury attorney that you hire, will do all of the fact gathering and worrying for you.