my pregnant girlfriend recently hit a median that was just installed in the middle of the road and damaged her car badly, 20+ others have too.
Question Details: The median was installed in the middle of the original lane and the shoulder was extended to redirect. It is located just over the crest of a hill in which you are turning through a left curve and snap there it is you have to quickly drift right while still in the left curve to miss it. It just is not visable until you're right on top of it and not signed sufficiently. Are insurance agent stated that 20 or more people have been in to file damage claims for the same issue. It is clear to most people that it was just dumb, and dangerous, for the city to put this median in the way they did.
You'll need to talk to a local attorney about this. I'm not an Iowa lawyer, and the rules on suing City Hall vary quite a bit from one state to another; the details of the case can matter, too, and must be reviewed for reliable advice. But I'd certainly have your friend go ahead and set up the consultation, because she might have a case here.
Ordinarily, it's hard to sue for road design problems. Historically, a state government has "sovereign immunity" and can't be sued, although many states have abolished that old legal rule and replaced it with a statutory scheme that allows lawsuits, but only under strictly limited conditions. It might make a difference, here, if it was a local or county road department.
But, one of the types of exceptions to the usual rule in some states, even under those statutes that prevents lawsuits for highway problems, is for situations that create a "trap for the unwary," and it sounds like this might qualify.
