There was no snow on the ground when Sarah Goodman lost control of her car while braking on southbound Ward Parkway last week.
"I mean that ice should not have been there,” said Goodman.
She swerved into another car and ended up in someone’s front lawn. Turns out when she hit her breaks, her car slid on ice from a water main break. It will cost $1,400 to fix her car.
"I don’t have the money to just like spend and my insurance is going to go up over something that I technically shouldn’t be responsible for," said Goodman.
Goodman wants the city to pay for the damage, and she is not alone.
On Tuesday 41 Action News talked with Steven Miles, who also crashed his car at the same intersection and blames ice from the same water main break.
We reached out to a city spokesperson who told us Goodman would have to file a claim. Once filed, investigators representing the city will review the case and either approve or deny the claim. If the city denies the claim, people have the option of taking the city to civil court.
"With suits against the city you've got to pursue them pretty vigorously,” said Kansas City attorney Nick Hinrichs.
Hinrichs has helped clients take Kansas City to court in the past. He says you have to file a claim within 90 days, otherwise the statute of limitations will expire. Also, people can only sue up to $300,000.
Hinrichs also suggest weighing out the property damage and how much it will cost to bring a lawsuit against the city.
"If you are going to try and hire an attorney to go after the city for something that is so small in terms of the amount, you have a very difficult time doing that and coming out ahead, it's going to end up costing you more in the long run to do something like that,” said Hinrichs.
Goodman says even though the water main break is fixed, she is avoiding driving along Ward Parkway altogether to avoid any future damage.
"Now I don't feel like I just wrecked for no reason, there was water on the road that should not have been there, there is no reason,” said Goodman.
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Ali Hoxie can be reached at ali.hoxie@kshb.com
