What to do if I recently hit a pothole on a street but the city has denied my damage claim?

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What to do if I recently hit a pothole on a street but the city has denied my damage claim?

I went through my insurance and filed a claim for approximately $1,300. I filed a claim with the city as well providing all necessary documentation and also requested a copy of street maintenance and sweeping records. They have denied my claim and will not provide me records. By law don’t they have to provide me copies per my request because it appears they are just hiding something since of course they state they had no knowledge of the hole. After I filed my claim of course the repair was made but I reported another hole about 4 weeks ago that is still not fixed obviously because no damage was reported. What are my rights to the records that they are basing their denial upon?

Asked on May 16, 2014 under Accident Law, California

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 9 years ago | Contributor

You can file an open records request with city government and see if that gets you the documents you seek. If it doesn't, you'd have to try filing a subpoena against them to get anything (e.g. a subpoena duces teceum); in the absence of a proper open records request and/or legal process (like a subpoena), they do not have to provide you anything.


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