>Are they suggesting that the city can be held liable when a pothole they _haven't_ fixed jacks up my car or its tires? I've not really heard of that working in practice.
I don't know about Portland or Oregon, since it's a state/city level issue I assume laws vary all over the USA there. However, in my state that is absolutely the case on state roads, not "liable" so much as "you can be reimbursed for documented damages up to some limit", and the process is a quite straightforward one that I've personally taken advantage of. A few years back I hit a fresh major pothole on a state highway (50 mph speed limit) and it destroyed tires on the passenger side, though at least I avoided serious damage to my shocks. I documented the tow, repair, and tire replacement cost, downloaded the state reimbursement form, and sent it all in. 3 weeks later the state sent me back a check for the $500-someodd it cost no questions asked.
I suspect a lot of people don't know about such laws but from a brief glance they do seem reasonably widespread around the country, so it's always worth checking. Maybe another one of those many things that can work quite well and easily in your favor if you know about it, but that most people don't even know to take advantage of in the first place. Certainly didn't come up in driver's ed, I only learned about it while talking shop with other people volunteering to help a campaign for state office.
An amusing thought: If a lot more people would start submitting claims though such laws, the cities/states would start getting more proactive in fixing damage to the roads, so as to limit the amount of legit claims they had to pay.
This may also apply to construction areas. My relative hit a temporary metal plate (after construction hours) commuting home from work and it destroyed a tire and dented a rim. Filed a claim through the local municipality which eventually got forwarded to the contracted construction company which fully reimbursed repair costs.
I don't know about Portland or Oregon, since it's a state/city level issue I assume laws vary all over the USA there. However, in my state that is absolutely the case on state roads, not "liable" so much as "you can be reimbursed for documented damages up to some limit", and the process is a quite straightforward one that I've personally taken advantage of. A few years back I hit a fresh major pothole on a state highway (50 mph speed limit) and it destroyed tires on the passenger side, though at least I avoided serious damage to my shocks. I documented the tow, repair, and tire replacement cost, downloaded the state reimbursement form, and sent it all in. 3 weeks later the state sent me back a check for the $500-someodd it cost no questions asked.
I suspect a lot of people don't know about such laws but from a brief glance they do seem reasonably widespread around the country, so it's always worth checking. Maybe another one of those many things that can work quite well and easily in your favor if you know about it, but that most people don't even know to take advantage of in the first place. Certainly didn't come up in driver's ed, I only learned about it while talking shop with other people volunteering to help a campaign for state office.