Pothole damage claim, by state.

Last updated · 2026-08-29 · MA / RI / NH / ME / VT / CT / NY / CO / OR / NM

If a pothole damaged your car or a defective sidewalk caused an injury, and you want to file a claim against the responsible municipality, this page gives you the starting reference points for your state: the statute that creates municipal liability, how many days you have to file written notice, whether there’s a damage cap, and where the notice needs to go. Every entry links to the primary statute text on the state legislature’s own website so you can read the current law yourself.

This is not legal advice. Notice periods and damage caps change — legislatures amend these statutes, and courts interpret them. For a live claim, verify the current statute text at the primary source and consult a licensed attorney in your state. This page is a reference, not a substitute for counsel. Rows marked pending-review come from Fault Line’s versioned statute dataset and are usable but not yet attorney-verified; rows marked preliminary have not been drafted into the dataset yet.

Summary table

State Statute (primary source) Notice period Damage cap Dataset status
MA M.G.L. c. 84, § 15 30 days $5,000 (highway) / $100,000 (tort claims act) pending-review
RI R.I. Gen. Laws § 24-5-14 60 days Statutory tort caps apply pending-review
NH RSA 231:90–92 60 days $50,000 per occurrence pending-review
ME 14 M.R.S. § 8107 (Tort Claims Act) 180 days $400,000 per person / $500,000 per occurrence preliminary
VT 12 V.S.A. § 5601 (Tort Claims Act) Varies (state vs. town) $500,000 per person / $2M per occurrence (state) preliminary
CT Conn. Gen. Stat. § 13a-149 90 days No statutory cap for this section (municipality) preliminary
NY NY Gen. Municipal Law § 50-e 90 days Varies; NYC has separate procedures preliminary
CO C.R.S. § 24-10-109 (Governmental Immunity Act) 182 days $424,000 per person / $1.195M per occurrence (2022 indexed) preliminary
OR ORS 30.275 (Tort Claims Act) 180 days Adjusted annually; check current OR schedule preliminary
NM NMSA § 41-4-16 (Tort Claims Act) 90 days $300,000 per person / statutory limits preliminary

Reading the table: the notice period is how many days after the incident you have to file written notice with the municipality. Miss the deadline and the claim is typically time-barred no matter how strong the underlying facts. The damage cap is the maximum recovery under the statute; some states have separate caps for personal injury vs. property damage. Pending-review entries have been drafted into Fault Line’s statute dataset but not yet independently reviewed by counsel; preliminary entries are references only and require additional review before Fault Line generates letters for them.

MAMassachusetts

Dataset status: MA v0.1.0 · pending-review · full audit points in src/services/statutes/dataset.ts

Statute
M.G.L. c. 84, § 15 — municipal liability for defective public ways.
Written notice deadline
30 days from the date of injury or damage, filed under M.G.L. c. 84, § 18. Notice must state the time, place, and cause.
Damage cap
$5,000 per occurrence under the highway defect statute. Claims may alternatively be brought under the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act (M.G.L. c. 258) with a $100,000 cap, subject to different notice requirements.
Where to send notice
The city clerk or the municipal officer designated to receive service of process for the municipality.
Known audit points
Property damage vs. personal injury may be treated differently in some appellate decisions. State highways (state-numbered routes) may route to MassDOT rather than the municipality under a separate framework.

RIRhode Island

Dataset status: RI v0.1.0 · pending-review · full audit points in src/services/statutes/dataset.ts

Statute
R.I. Gen. Laws § 24-5-14 — town and city liability for defective highways.
Written notice deadline
60 days from the date of injury, filed with the town or city clerk.
Damage cap
Rhode Island applies statutory tort caps generally; verify the current municipal-defect cap against the current statute at the primary source.
Where to send notice
The town or city clerk — RI case law has been strict about delivery to the correct clerk of record, not to public works.
Known audit points
State-maintained roads (RIDOT) follow a different framework. Comparative negligence applies: recovery may be reduced by claimant fault under R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-20-4.

NHNew Hampshire

Dataset status: NH v0.1.0 · pending-review · full audit points in src/services/statutes/dataset.ts

Statute
RSA 231:90 (duty), RSA 231:91 (notice), RSA 231:92 (cap and weather exclusion).
Written notice deadline
60 days from the date of injury, filed with the municipality.
Damage cap
$50,000 per occurrence under RSA 231:92. Confirm the current cap at the primary source — legislative amendments may adjust this figure.
Where to send notice
The municipality — typically the town/city clerk or municipal counsel.
Known audit points
Not every defect is an “insufficiency” under NH case law — cosmetic or minor issues may not qualify. Weather-caused conditions (ice, snow) have an exclusion unless an unreasonable time has passed since the weather event.

MEMaine

Dataset status: not yet drafted · reference values only

Statute
14 M.R.S. § 8107 (Maine Tort Claims Act, notice) and related sections in Title 14, Chapter 741. Municipal road defect claims may also fall under Title 23 (Highways).
Written notice deadline
180 days after the cause of action accrues, under the Tort Claims Act — but claimants should verify against the specific municipal-defect provisions and current amendments.
Damage cap
The Maine Tort Claims Act generally caps recovery at $400,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence; verify current values.
Where to send notice
The governmental entity involved, or the entity’s designated agent for service.
Known audit points
Coastal ME uses different maintenance rhythms than inland; state highways (state-numbered routes) are the responsibility of Maine DOT rather than the municipality.

VTVermont

Dataset status: not yet drafted · reference values only

Statute
12 V.S.A. § 5601 (Vermont Tort Claims Act — state entities). Municipal claims may also rely on town-highway provisions in Title 19, Chapter 15 (verify current section numbers).
Written notice deadline
Notice periods vary by whether the defendant is the State or a town. Verify against the specific statute that applies to your defendant.
Damage cap
The state cap under 12 V.S.A. § 5601 is $500,000 per person and $2M per occurrence at time of writing — verify current values. Municipal caps vary.
Where to send notice
The Attorney General’s office for claims against the State; the town clerk for claims against a town.
Known audit points
Vermont has small towns with volunteer-heavy DPWs; documented notice via a formal channel is especially important because informal reports may not create a paper trail.

CTConnecticut

Dataset status: not yet drafted · reference values only

Statute
Conn. Gen. Stat. § 13a-149 (municipal highway defect) and Conn. Gen. Stat. § 4-141 et seq. (state highways — claims commissioner process).
Written notice deadline
90 days from the date of injury for § 13a-149 claims. Notice must describe the injury, cause, time, and place with reasonable definiteness.
Damage cap
The municipal defective-highway statute does not itself impose a numerical cap for this section; other statutes and doctrines may limit recovery. State highway claims proceed through the claims commissioner.
Where to send notice
The selectman or town clerk for municipalities; the claims commissioner for state highway claims.
Known audit points
Connecticut abolished county government in 1960; the municipality (city or town) is the correct defendant, not the county. The state-vs-municipal-road distinction determines the statute and the process.

NYNew York

Dataset status: not yet drafted · reference values only

Statute
NY Gen. Municipal Law § 50-e (notice of claim) and § 50-i (action against municipality). Highway-specific provisions in NY Highway Law Article 6.
Written notice deadline
90 days from the date of accrual. NYC and some other municipalities have separate prior-written-notice requirements (a defect must have been previously reported and on file for a specified time before liability can attach).
Damage cap
No general cap under § 50-e; NYC has separate procedures and defenses.
Where to send notice
The person designated by law to receive service — typically the corporation counsel or law department for cities, town clerk for towns.
Known audit points
NYC uses proprietary 311; upstate NY has patchy 311 coverage and is the higher-value target for Fault Line reporting. Prior-written-notice requirements are common at the local level and materially affect whether a claim survives.

COColorado

Dataset status: not yet drafted · reference values only

Statute
C.R.S. § 24-10-101 et seq. (Governmental Immunity Act). Notice provisions in § 24-10-109.
Written notice deadline
182 days after the date of discovery of the injury, under § 24-10-109. Missing this deadline is fatal to the claim.
Damage cap
Colorado indexes its caps for inflation; the 2022-indexed values were $424,000 per person and $1.195M per occurrence. Verify current published figures before relying on these numbers.
Where to send notice
The governing body of the public entity and the Attorney General for state claims.
Known audit points
Home-rule cities (Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Aurora) have proprietary 311 systems. Mountain and plains counties have very sparse population density affecting report volume for the Shame Index.

OROregon

Dataset status: not yet drafted · reference values only

Statute
ORS 30.275 (Oregon Tort Claims Act, notice) within ORS Chapter 30.
Written notice deadline
180 days after the alleged loss or injury, per ORS 30.275(2)(b).
Damage cap
Adjusted annually for inflation. Verify the current schedule before relying on any specific figure.
Where to send notice
Depends on the public body — the city recorder for cities, county clerk for counties, or Attorney General for the State.
Known audit points
Portland uses PDX Reporter (historically Open311, endpoint has been unstable). Salem / Gresham / Hillsboro use QScend backends. Eugene uses SeeClickFix.

NMNew Mexico

Dataset status: not yet drafted · reference values only

Statute
NMSA § 41-4-16 (New Mexico Tort Claims Act, notice) within NMSA Chapter 41, Article 4.
Written notice deadline
90 days after the occurrence of the injury or loss.
Damage cap
New Mexico has statutory tort caps; verify current published values.
Where to send notice
The mayor for cities, the county manager or clerk for counties, the risk management division for state entities.
Known audit points
NM’s 90-day window is shorter than most western states — missed deadlines are the most common way NM claims are lost. Southeastern oil-economy communities (Roswell, Hobbs, Carlsbad) have infrastructure wear that may drive report density.

Practical guidance

Regardless of state, three habits protect claims:

  1. Document at the moment of the incident. Photos with EXIF timestamps, GPS-tagged reports, and the actual physical damage — save receipts. Fault Line captures the first three automatically when you report a hazard, which is why the app is designed to be usable in ten seconds from the roadside.
  2. File written notice before the deadline runs. The notice period is the single most consequential number on this page. Missing it is the most common way infrastructure claims fail. Fault Line generates a demand letter template calibrated to your state’s specific notice period — but you send it; Fault Line does not.
  3. Consult an attorney for any live claim. Fault Line is a documentation tool. Every state has jurisdiction-specific procedural quirks — prior-written-notice ordinances, comparative-fault reductions, state-vs-municipal-road distinctions — that a resident cannot reliably navigate alone. A one-hour consultation before you file the claim is inexpensive insurance against a case-ending procedural error.

How Fault Line uses these statutes

When you file a Fault Line report and the cluster reaches the escalation threshold, the app generates a demand letter template that cites your state’s specific statute and tracks the applicable statutory deadline. You review the letter, sign it, and send it yourself — Fault Line does not transmit letters on your behalf. Every generated letter carries a chain-of-custody footer identifying the dataset version and its review status. For states where the record is pending-review, the letter prepends an unreviewed-content banner so you can see, before you send, that the underlying legal claim has not yet been attorney-verified. See the FAQ for more on the escalation flow.

Not legal advice. This page is a reference. For a live claim, verify the current statute text at the primary source and consult a licensed attorney in your state. Statute numbers, notice periods, and damage caps can change through legislative amendment or court interpretation — the values above are our best current reading and are versioned in Fault Line’s statute dataset under a public review protocol.