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December 27, 2009 in City
Saying potholes caused crash, Spokane man sues Idaho
A Spokane man has filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the state of Idaho for injuries he says resulted from a crash caused by potholes on Interstate 90 in North Idaho.
Kasey Crick, 22, filed the lawsuit Dec. 18 after the state denied any wrongdoing in response to a tort claim he had filed following the Dec. 28, 2007, accident.
According to court files obtained by the Coeur d’Alene Press, Crick was a passenger in a vehicle pulling a trailer when the trailer came dislodged after running over potholes in the westbound lane just west of Coeur d’Alene.
The lawsuit said the driver pulled into the median to reattach the trailer when another vehicle hit the same series of potholes, breaking that vehicle’s steering mechanism.
That vehicle then struck the trailer, which struck Crick, breaking his pelvis and causing other injuries.
Idaho did not take the proper precautions to prevent the accident, the lawsuit said, and “that failure constituted negligence.”
Crick is being represented by Spokane-based attorney Patrick Fannin.
“My client was in massage therapy school at the time but dropped out because they didn’t think he would be able to stand that well,” Fannin said. “He’s made a fairly good recovery, but still has ongoing pain.”
An official with the state’s risk management department declined to comment.
Bill Kaufman, maintenance coordinator for the Idaho Transportation Department, said the local office received complaints about the potholes around the time of the accident.
But Kaufman said bad weather that year prevented resurfacing of that section of road, and that temporary patches were mostly ineffective.
“It was just a really horrible winter – everything fell apart,” he said.
Crick is seeking restitution for medical bills, lost wages, rehabilitation and school tuition costs. The $500,000 he is seeking is the highest among possible from the state.
© Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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lewis8457 on December 27 at 8:54 a.m.
Potholes are a real hazard, and for some reason the road department does not see them as a reason concern. In Spokane there are many holes that are 4 or 5 inches deep, and they could cause a crash if hit at high way speeds.
Since high paid drunk cops can sue the city maybe those of us watching our cars slowly turned to scrap should start out own lawsuit, we could call it the pothole suit.
AxE on December 27 at 9:18 a.m.
Isn’t I-90 a Federal Highway? I maybe wrong there.
BillTann on December 27 at 10:43 a.m.
The plaintiff has a skilled, honest attorney in Pat Fannin. My experience is that Mr. Fannin need not and will not take a case unless it has merit.
I still have vascular problems in my left ankle from a bad pothole injury. Assistant city attorney acted in what might be construed as an ethically questionable manner and paid me 25 cents, knowing that my own 50% comparative negligence would not make the case worth more than $1500 or so. I did not want to be countersued by the city, quite possibly an ethically questionable practice employed extensively by Treppidi before it was stopped by our current mayor, so I did not pursue the matter. Accident circumstances and Mr. Treppiddi’s behavior were covered extensively in a Spokesman-Review article at the time.
Hopefully the State of Idaho will be inclined toward a reasonable settlement for Mr. Crick’s far more substantial claim involving far more serious injuries during the formal discovery process. I should have consulted with Mr. Fannin, had he been available, before abandoning my own claim and signing the release for 25 cents with Treppidi who even required that I donate the quarter to a charity of HIS choice!
This is real. Check http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19880117&id=ldwRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mO8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6719,714438