No, the pothole itself has not been implicated for injuries sustained more than three months ago by Chicago motorcyclist Myron Reed (Chicago Now), but rather the city for not fixing the road. The real irony, though, is that Chicago will have even less money to fix the pothole if Reed prevails.
It probably doesn't work quite like that, but you get the point.
Reed claims to have crashed his motorcycle on the appropriately named Wacker Drive when the wheels of his motorcycle "made contact with the edge of the uneven roadway." The negligence complaint lacks details of just how badly he was "wacked," only to say that he sustained injuries "of a personal and pecuniary nature."
Reed is claiming damages in excess of $50,000.
The defendant, none other than the City of Chicago, is being sued for one of count of a personal injury caused by "man-made defect in street." Chicago was negligent, he claims, when it "created an uneven driving surface... it knew would be used by motorists... [and] failed to warn motorists of the uneven driving surface that existed on Lower Wacker Drive."
You never know when the Windy City's diabolical nature will cause it to ignore its responsibilities to the public. Obviously the suit is against Chicago's various institutions that could have fixed or warned about the pothole, but it's fun to imagine Chicago herself (himself?) sitting in court, trying to explain its lack of oversight:
"Your Honor, I got about three million people to look after, not to mention a budget that seems to grow smaller each day. Besides, I'm too distraught by our flailing Bears to even think about one little pothole on Wacker. What do you want me to do?"
It will be interesting to see how Reed's Illinois injury lawyer will play this hand.
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Man Hurt by Falling Tree Limb in Central Park Files Suit (The New York Times)
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Chicago Injury Attorneys (FindLaw)
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