No, a municipality is not always immune from negligence claims, and yes, a motorist can sue the city government for injuries caused by an unrepaired pothole if the city was aware of the hazard, the Mississippi Supreme Court concluded last week.
Under Mississippi statutes, local governments do enjoy some sovereign immunity from lawsuits. But not if agencies have been notified of a dangerous situation and failed to repair it or to warn motorists of the danger, the court said in City of Jackson vs. Latoya Lawson, a decision handed down April 2.
The justices upheld a Hinds County Circuit Court judge’s ruling but found the judge had followed slightly erroneous reasoning to get there—an example of the age-old “tipsy coachman” legal doctrine.
Lawson was riding a motorcycle in 2018 when she found herself in heavy traffic in Jackson, the state capital. She was behind a cargo truck and never saw a large pothole in the street. The impact caused her to crash, breaking her ankle and causing years of pain, surgery and complications, the court explained.
It turned out that eight days before the crash, a citizen had reported the pothole. City records later showed that officials were aware of the hazard but had not placed traffic cones nor erected warning signs. The hole was not repaired until three months later.
The trial court judge denied the city’s request for summary judgment, which argued that the city held immunity from torts. After a bench trial, the judge awarded Lawson $67,603 in economic damages and $152,000 in noneconomic damages.
The city appealed. A municipality has jurisdiction over streets, but does not have a mandatory duty to maintain them, the city’s lawyers argued.
The Supreme Court noted that in 2018 it had reasserted a two-part test to determine discretionary immunity: A court must first ascertain if the activity in question involved an element of choice or judgment. Next, a court must determine if that choice involved policy considerations. Further, the court must distinguish between real policy decisions and simple acts of negligence, the justices wrote.
“A city has a duty to maintain safe streets within its jurisdiction; however, ‘mere proof of a defective condition in the streets, no matter how dangerous, is not sufficient to show breach of the city’s duty to maintain its streets safely. A would-be plaintiff must go further and show that the city had actual or constructive knowledge of the defect,’” Justice Josiah Coleman wrote in the opinion.
The lack of warnings or repairs “is not the kind of policy-setting decision that implicates governmental functions and that discretionary-function immunity is intended to insulate from judicial review,” the justices explained. “Failing to repair or warn about a known dangerous pothole is more akin to ‘simple acts of negligence which injure innocent citizens.’”
The lawsuit was one of many legal issues the city of Jackson has faced in recent years over lack of repairs to infrastructure, including its water system, as the city has struggled with a shrinking tax base, budget shortfalls and staffing shortages. Jackson made headlines in late 2022 after pipes froze and broke, leaving many residents with no safe drinking water for weeks.
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Lawsuits
Mississippi
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