How Can I Sue the City?

Because of the doctrine of sovereign immunity, suing a city, municipality, or other government entity can be complicated. Sovereign immunity is a legal concept that means government entities (“sovereigns”) have to give their consent before they can be sued.

If you have suffered a personal injury involving the city government, such as a car accident with a city employee, you have a limited period of time to enforce your legal rights by suing the city for negligence. Consult with a personal injury lawyer in your area to evaluate your case. An experienced attorney can guide you through the legal process of suing your local government and advocate for you along the way.

Types of Cases Against a City or Municipality

The most common types of cases against the government — negligence and accident tort cases — are eligible to be brought under various state and federal laws known as Tort Claims Acts. Torts are injuries caused by civil wrongdoings; each state has its own Tort Claims law, under which it has waived sovereign immunity for certain kinds of claims that might arise under state law.

Similarly, the federal government passed the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) in 1946 to allow injured people to sue the government of the United States for injuries caused by federal agencies and employees. Therefore, under various federal and state laws, the government has waived its sovereign immunity for certain types of cases.

Your potential claims against a city may vary depending on the state in which the incident occurred, but in general, you can sue a city (and the federal government) for:

• Property damage
• Bus, train, and car accidents
• Personal injury (negligence)
• Wrongful death
• Medical malpractice
• Premises liability (e.g. slip and fall on sidewalks)
• Breach of contract
• Civil rights violations

Additional claims against the city may be available depending on the laws of your state. This article will mainly describe personal injury claims since they are common claims that can allow litigation against the government.

City Employees and Liability

Most claims against the government, including the city, arise from the actions of its employees. To sue a city for damage to your property or person, you must show that a government employee did something wrong to cause harm to you.

When an Employee Is a Private Citizen

It’s not enough that a person who causes damage to you is a government employee. If they cause injuries and other legal issues while they aren’t working, you can hold them personally liable. You wouldn’t need to sue the city itself in those scenarios. 

For example, a person who happens to be a city employee ends up causing a car accident while out on a Saturday night. They total your vehicle and cause injuries that send you to the hospital. That person might be personally responsible for the lawsuit if they were driving on their own time and as a private citizen. 

When Within the Scope of Employment

Conversely, if a person who causes you harm does so while they are acting under the scope of their employment with the city government, you would have a strong argument that the city is responsible for your damages. In other words, a government employer may be found to be responsible for the acts of its employee while that employee causes harm while performing their job duties.

Notice of Claim Prior to Court Filing

If your personal injury case is against a city, county, or state government, you may first need to file a Notice of Claim, depending on your state’s laws.

A notice of claim is a form you submit directly to the government agency that hurt you. For example, if a city employee rammed their truck into your car while performing their governmental functions, you would submit your Notice of Claim to the government building or department that employs that city employee.

The Notice of Claim form will ask for a few details, including:

• Your phone number
• Your other contact information
• The location and date of the incident
• The nature of the damages or injuries you suffered

The form provides the government with an opportunity to review your claim before you can formally file a lawsuit against them in court. If the claim is denied by the government or they issue you a “Right to Sue Letter,” you will then have the right to sue them in court. In some situations, you may be offered a settlement before you are forced to sue the city.

If your personal injury case is against the federal government, the equivalent “notice of claim” for federal purposes is the Standard Form 95, which is available for download on the U.S. General Services Administration website. This form is the precursor to filing a case against federal agencies in U.S. district courts. It covers personal injury, death, and property damage, and must be submitted to the federal agency whose employee you allege has acted wrongfully or negligently in causing you harm while under the scope of federal employment.

There is a time limit — sometimes as short as a few months — to file your Notice of Claim after an accident occurs. Check with a legal professional in your area for the exact limits in your state.

Remedies: What Can I Recover?

The amount of money you can recover will depend on the extent of your injuries or other harm.

Generally, if you sue and win a case against the city government, you can expect to receive payment for:

• Pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life
• Time and income lost from work (lost wages)
• Medical bills and caregiver expenses
• Replacement cost of damaged or destroyed property
• Lost income and companionship of a loved one as a result of their death

Depending on your state and what you’re suing for, you may also be able to obtain:

• Punitive damages: An order from the court that the government be punished by paying you up to three times your actual damages
• Injunctive relief or specific performance: This can arise in civil rights cases and can be an order from the court requiring the government to stop doing something, e.g., to stop discriminating against you or stop taking your property, or to start doing something, e.g., honor a contract it signed with you.

Example Case of Suing a City

In this example, let’s assume you are legally crossing the street when you trip and fall on a pothole the city forgot to repair despite multiple accident reports. You suffer mild knee scrapes from the fall. But as you are getting up to finish crossing, the city bus crosses a red light and hits you, breaking your leg and your valuable gold pocket watch.

You are taken to a government hospital where a doctor, a city employee, mistakenly amputates your healthy leg while failing to treat the broken one.

Here, while alive, you may have grounds for:

• A personal injury case against the city for failing to cure the pothole and then causing your friend’s knee to break in the bus accident
• A lawsuit for property damage as a result of the broken pocket watch
• A medical malpractice claim against the city because its employee amputated the wrong leg

Now, suppose you passed away as a result of the injuries you sustained in the bus accident. Your representative can bring a wrongful death claim against the city to try to recover:

• The medical expenses and funeral expenses they had to pay out of pocket
• Any lost income and loss of companionship your family suffers from your absence

How Long You Have To Sue the City

There are multiple time limits (statutes of limitation) in place when you’re trying to sue a government entity. This is especially important to note if you’re dealing with a personal injury claim.

While personal injury lawsuits must be brought to court in a timely manner, having a government agency involved means you must follow more specific procedures. If you have suffered property damage in an auto accident or have otherwise been involved in a personal injury case against a government, you have another layer of deadlines (Notice of Claims) to deal with.

This time sensitivity means you may have anywhere from a few months to a few years to act, depending on your city and state. Don’t wait too long to consider holding the city accountable for a wrongful act or injury.

Get Legal Advice: An Experienced Attorney Can Help You Sue the City

As an injured employee, it’s wise to get a case evaluation from a personal injury attorney. If you have been the victim of mistreatment by a police officer or other federal government, city, or state law enforcement agency, you should consider consulting a civil rights attorney.

Some lawyers will provide a free case review. Lawyers may even work on contingency to avoid charging any up-front fees until they have obtained a recovery for you.