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Court sides with SLC in lawsuit over potholes

Posted at 11:11 AM, May 28, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-28 13:11:35-04

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s Court of Appeals has ruled just because a pothole is in the road, doesn’t mean city employees are duty-bound to report it.

Jeffrey Wood sued Salt Lake City in 2011 after he tripped over a pothole on Blaine Avenue and seriously injured his arm. According to the court ruling, Wood alleged the pothole had been there — and unnoticed by city street sweepers and garbage pickup employees — for about four months and the city was negligent in identifying and repairing it.

But a lower court sided with the city, stating that sanitation workers and street sweepers are not required to be on the lookout for potholes because they have other jobs to do.

From the ruling:

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Wood appealed the ruling to the Utah Court of Appeals, arguing that the lower court made a mistake when it failed to find city employees had a duty to report potholes. The appellate court disagreed.

From the ruling:

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Read the full ruling from the Utah Court of Appeals here: