Newsletter

Preventing Sidewalk Claims

Cracked, lifted, and uneven sidewalks are a tremendous liability for public agencies. Over the last five years, the California JPIA has paid nearly $9 million to resolve trip-and-fall claims on behalf of its members, and the vast majority of those claims were related to preventable sidewalk maintenance issues.

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Many of the sidewalk trip-and-fall claims seen in the liability program involve older members of the community who sustain significant orthopedic injuries requiring surgery. Occasionally, there are claims where a person hits their head on a sidewalk and sustains a serious brain injury. While the orthopedic injury claims on their own can result in substantial defense and settlement costs, the brain injury cases can be very expensive depending on the person’s cognitive residuals and functioning. Settlements for such cases can be in the seven-figure range.

During the June 22 Risk Managers Roundtable, David Ferrante-Alan, one of the Authority’s liability defense panel attorneys, discussed in detail the importance of having a sidewalk inspection program to identify and eliminate problematic sidewalk conditions to prevent claims. The Authority places a tremendous emphasis on risk management, with members and their public works staff acting as the first line of defense.

To assist members with their sidewalk inspection efforts, the Authority has a master services agreement with pre-negotiated services and pricing through a business partner, Precision Concrete Cutting. Many members have worked with Precision to identify and remedy their sidewalk risks, resulting in significant savings on the claims side through loss prevention.

When sidewalk claims are litigated, the lack of a sidewalk inspection program, combined with a significant displacement of the sidewalk, is usually problematic, meaning the claim will typically have to be resolved through often expensive litigation. However, if members proactively inspect their sidewalks on a regular schedule and eliminate trip hazards when they are discovered, the financial benefits are significant, and injuries are prevented. As Benjamin Franklin so famously said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Members can find more sidewalk safety resources in the Authority’s online library by searching for the keyword “sidewalk.”

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