Brian Flores is a happy customer of Pima County.
On his way back from some target practice at Redington Pass in January, Flores drove over a large pothole, which popped his passenger-side tire and bent the rim beyond repair.
“It wasn’t a pothole,” he told the Arizona Daily Star. “It was a gaping hole in the street. It was gigantic.”
Bills for the repairs came in at over $1,200, but it was the county that eventually paid. Like a number of area residents who have the misfortune of damaging their vehicles on the numerous and much-maligned potholes that dot our region’s streets, Flores filed a notice of claim with Pima County, asking for reimbursement.
“It was a great experience with the county,” he exclaimed, echoing the high praise of another motorist who told the Road Runner his claim was quickly paid. “They were very prompt in handling my claim. Within 36 hours I already had my claim go through, and the following Monday they had a check for me.”
Flores is part of the roughly 16 percent of claimants who eventually have their pothole damage costs paid by the county, according to data provided by the Finance and Risk Management Department. Between 2011 and 2015, the county received 174 such claims and paid out on 28 of them. Average payouts were $338.47, and $9,477.27 in checks were issued over the same period. The city of Tucson did not respond to requests for information on its pothole claim process by deadline.
The county department’s director, Keith Dommer, walked the Road Runner through the basic process of handling these claims.
When deciding which to accept and which to deny, two factors are key, Dommer explained: Whether the road had received regular maintenance and whether the specific hazard had been reported to the county and received prompt repair. If either isn’t the case, there’s a decent chance a claim will be paid.
“Those are the two cases where we regularly feel that we are liable,” he said.
Though the city did not respond, one claimant gave a city denial letter to the Road Runner that shows officials there make similar considerations.
In September 2015, Shannan Brigode was driving along River Road and hit a pothole that knocked the driver-side wheel off its ball joint. The bill was nearly $1,400.
In its rejection letter to Brigode, a city claims adjuster noted that there had been no “prior complaints” about that specific pothole.
“The City of Tucson cannot be held liable for something for which it has no prior knowledge,” the letter goes on to say.
While the vast majority of county claims are, like Brigode’s, denied, Dommer said the fact that his office could find no record of any claim proceeding to a formal lawsuit suggests “that we (are) making reasonable determinations.”
“That doesn’t always make people happy,” he said. “But it is an indication that we’re doing the right thing. My goal would be that (the driver) would understand the rationale, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be happy with the decision.”
One such driver who was frustrated to get a rejection letter was Rosemary Robertson, who drove her brand-new Mercedes Benz — she said it had 5,000 miles at the time — over a pothole on Pontatoc Road in the Foothills in January, causing around $660 in damage.
“I was very disappointed,” she said of the denial. “I thought that was very unfair because I am a very careful driver. The road was in terrible condition.” The county had known about the pothole before the incident, but by just two days. As fate would have it, the pothole was repaired the following day.
“Even if a particular condition were determined to be unsafe, the county is not liable for damages related to the condition unless it has advanced notice of the problem and reasonable time to fix the condition,” the letter reads, before going on to say that in this case the county felt its responsibility had not been “breached.”
Though his pothole claim with the county has not yet been acted on either way, Ed Schechner is frustrated that he has received no information at all from the county since a Jan. 8 letter that confirmed receipt of his claim.
“Even if they’re not going to reimburse us, at least communicate with me,” Schechner said of his claim for $465 in damage.
Dommer said that a “standard” claim is typically resolved within 30 days, but more complicated cases can take longer.
Those who are paid quickly, like Lee Smith whose 2013 Lexus got busted up on East Tanque Verde Road in January, generally have good things to say about the process.
“I gotta tell you, telling the story to various people, they were astounded that I got paid that quickly,” he said with a laugh.
DOWN THE ROAD
Striping work on Interstate 10 between Tucson and Benson will continue this week. There will be lane closures and intermittent closures at interchanges on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. The work is part of a $15.1 million Arizona Department of Transportation project to improve the 17 miles of interstate between State Route 83 and State Route 90.
