Hit by a Government Vehicle: Police Car, City Truck Claims

Governments were historically immune from suit, and every state and the federal government has waived that immunity only partly, through tort claims acts that permit certain claims on certain conditions. Negligent driving by a government employee in the course of their work is generally among the permitted claims, so a claim exists when a city sanitation truck rear-ends you or a county employee runs a stop sign in a county car. But the claim proceeds on the act's terms, not on the ordinary rules.

The terms are a written notice of claim within a short period, delivered to the specific office the act names, with the content the act requires; a waiting period before suit can be filed; in many states a cap on damages per person and per occurrence; in some states a prohibition on punitive damages and on jury trials; and immunity for categories of conduct, which for vehicles usually means emergency response. The notice deadline is the trap: it is far shorter than the injury statute, it runs from the crash, and it is strictly enforced.

The employee is usually not personally liable, or is liable only for conduct outside the scope of employment or that was willful, and the government defends and pays for its employee. The claim is against the government entity, identified correctly, which matters because a city, a county, a transit authority and a school district are different entities with different notice rules.

Police cars, ambulances and fire trucks responding to emergencies are permitted by statute in every state to exceed speed limits, run red lights and drive against traffic, with lights and sirens, and the statutes require them to drive with due regard for others' safety. What happens when they injure someone depends on the state: some immunize emergency response driving unless it was reckless or in willful disregard of safety; some apply ordinary negligence but give the emergency driver the benefit of the statute's permissions; and some immunize the government entirely for pursuits.

Police pursuits are the sharpest case. A bystander hit by a fleeing suspect during a pursuit has a claim against the suspect, who is usually uninsured, and a claim against the police only if the state allows it, which many limit to reckless pursuit decisions or bar entirely. A bystander hit by the pursuing police car itself has a stronger claim, subject to the same standard. Pursuit policies, dashcam and bodycam footage, and dispatch recordings are the evidence, and they are obtained through public records requests and discovery.

A government vehicle not responding to an emergency, a police car driving to lunch, an ambulance returning from a call without lights, a fire truck on a routine run, is held to ordinary negligence like any other driver in nearly every state, and the immunity for emergency response does not apply.

Suppose a city public works truck backing out of a work zone without a spotter struck your car, and you suffered a neck injury requiring months of treatment and a shoulder injury requiring surgery, with $58,000 in medical bills and eight weeks off work. The driver was a city employee on duty.

An attorney identified the city as the entity, found that the state's tort claims act required a written notice of claim within 180 days delivered to the city clerk with specific content, and filed it in week six. The city's risk management office acknowledged the claim and, after the act's waiting period, denied it, asserting the truck had the right of way in the work zone. Suit was filed within the act's period. The driver's deposition and the city's own work zone safety policy, which required a spotter, established negligence.

The state capped damages against municipalities at $300,000 per person. The claim settled for an amount within the cap, which was below what the injury would have been worth against a private driver. Your own underinsured motorist coverage was examined for the difference; in your state and under your policy, a government entity's capped liability did not make it 'underinsured', and no further recovery was available. Had the notice been filed on day 181, the claim would have been barred. All figures are hypothetical.

The first step is to find out exactly which government the vehicle belonged to, and the second is to learn that government's notice deadline.

• Photograph the vehicle, its markings, its fleet or unit number and its plate; government plates and markings identify the entity.
• Get the driver's name and agency, and the supervisor's name if one responds to the scene.
• Call the police and insist on a report even if the vehicle belongs to the police; ask for a different agency to investigate if possible.
• Get witness names; a government vehicle crash is often defended on the driver's account alone.
• Find out the entity's notice-of-claim deadline immediately; it may be 30, 60, 90 or 180 days, and it runs from the crash.
• Have the written notice of claim prepared and delivered to the correct office in the form the act requires, well inside the deadline; an attorney does this routinely.
• Submit public records requests for dashcam, bodycam, fleet GPS and dispatch records, which are often retained for short periods.

Every element varies by state. Notice periods run from 30 days in a few states to a year in others, with 90 and 180 days common; New York requires notice within 90 days against municipalities; California requires a government claim within six months; Texas requires notice within six months unless the city's charter sets a shorter period, and many Texas cities do. Caps range widely: Texas caps municipal liability at $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence for most claims; many states cap at $100,000 to $500,000; some, including New York, have no cap. Some states bar punitive damages and jury trials against governments.

Emergency response immunity is a state question: some states apply a recklessness standard, some ordinary negligence with the statutory permissions, and some bar pursuit claims. State vehicles may fall under a different act, with a different notice procedure and a claims commission rather than a court in a few states. Transit authorities, school districts and public hospitals often have their own rules.

Federal vehicles, including postal trucks, military vehicles and federal agency cars, fall under the Federal Tort Claims Act: an administrative claim on a federal form to the agency within two years, a six-month agency review period, then suit in federal court with no jury, under the law of the state where the crash occurred, with no punitive damages. Whether your own underinsured motorist coverage applies when a government's cap limits recovery depends on the policy's definition of underinsured and the state's law, and the answer differs.

Public transit buses, light rail and paratransit vehicles are operated by transit authorities that are government bodies in most cities, subject to their own notice rules and caps, and a passenger or a driver struck by one claims under those rules. School buses operated by districts are the same; those operated by private contractors under district contract bring the contractor's commercial policy and ordinary rules, and sometimes both.

Government vehicles driven by contractors, a private towing company under city contract, a contracted ambulance service, are generally private claims against the contractor's insurer, not government claims, though the contract and the degree of government control can change that. The first question is always who employed the driver and who owned the vehicle.

A claim against a government for the road itself, a defective signal, a missing guardrail, a pothole, is a separate category of government claim with the same notice requirements and broader immunity for design and discretionary decisions, and it is often combined with a claim against a driver.

A government vehicle claim is decided first by whether the notice of claim was filed correctly and on time, then by whether the conduct is immune, then by the cap, and only then by the injury and the fault. The questions to answer in the first days are which entity owned the vehicle, what its notice deadline and procedure are, and whether emergency response immunity applies. Attorneys who handle government claims work on contingency and know the local rules.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in your state, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you were hit by a government vehicle, you can request a free claim review before the notice deadline passes.

• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Truck Accident Claims: Liability, Federal Rules and Compensation
• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation
• Airbag Did Not Deploy in a Crash: Can You Sue, and Whom?
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Back and Neck Injury Settlement After a Car Accident: Factors
• Bicycle Accident Claim: Hit by a Car While Riding
• Broken Bone Car Accident Settlement: What Drives the Value

Need local rules? Choose your state from the injury law guides hub or read the statute of limitations by state.