San Diego Highway Design Attorneys

Highway Design Overview

The State of California requires all public entities, cities, counties, and the state itself, to keep our roadways safe. The philosophy behind the law is that if the public entities are responsible for dangerous conditions of roadways, they will work aggressively to keep the roadways safe and thereby minimize serious injuries or deaths. California highway design lawyers have found this a very good approach because over the years when an accident has occurred as a result of a dangerous condition of a roadway, and a claim has been filed, the result has been that roadway conditions have been improved to prevent future accidents.

TIMING IS CRITICAL. In regard to any claim against a public entity you can only bring a case against a public entity if you file a timely claim against them. A claim must be filed within six months. However, the law in this area is very complex. If you are contemplating a claim against a public entity in San Diego, you should consult a San Diego highway design lawyer as soon as possible to have it properly evaluated. With a public entity a claim form must be filed as a precondition to bringing any suit against it.

Public entities can be held responsible for a dangerous roadway condition under a number of different circumstances. Here are the Judicial Council of California’s jury instructions, the questions the jury must answer for a highway design case:

• Did (a public entity) own or control the property?
• Was the property in a dangerous condition at the time of the incident?
• Did the dangerous condition create a reasonably foreseeable risk that this kind of incident would occur?
• Did the negligent or wrongful conduct of (name of defendants) employee acting within the scope of his or her employment create the dangerous condition or did (the public entity) have notice of the dangerous condition for a long enough time for (the public entity) to help protect it against it?
• Was the dangerous condition a substantial factor in causing the harm to (the person injured)?

In bringing a case against a public entity, a number of immunities and defenses apply. Any highway design case against a public entity must be carefully researched to determine whether it could be maintained on the facts and proper interpretation of the law.