wheel damage reimbursement - NJ

[Taka Mizutani]

Lee-
If you don't have the exact location, you might be able to still file a
claim if you know roughly where you were.

Since you're talking about I-80, the first people I'd contact is the NJ DOT-
find out the claim procedure, start from there. It's best to call, don't
email- get a name and title of the person, if you can and ask them nicely to
mail the forms to you.

The best results I've gotten is to get the government to admit that work was
done- once that is established, you can file a claim against them. When they
deny you, you can find out who actually did the work, then you've got
documentation saying that work was done and it was done by a certain
company. Once you have that, it's easy to go after the company- they have
insurance for this sort of thing, it's no big issue for them to pay you once
you get all your ducks in order.

If it's a poor road maintenance problem, then claiming against DOT is about
as much as you can do. We've had issues locally where work was ongoing on a
highway and because the highway was still in use, the existing pavement
deteriorated with the accelerated wear caused by all the cars going down one
lane- ended up creating some huge potholes that made the news- multiple cars
got multiple flat tires, jammed up traffic pretty good and I'll bet that
those people got reimbursed if they made a claim.

Taka


On Nov 29, 2007 3:00 PM, Lee Levitt <lee at wheelman.com> wrote:

>  Taka,
>
> Thanks. You're right, it must have been I 80.
>
> This was not fresh work. It was old pavement that had a join between two
> lanes, and a hole in the join...in fact a series of holes.
>
> I went through the contractor route once before, when a change in roadway
> height took out 3 S4 wheels. This was a case of a contractor scarifying
> pavement but not providing a transition between the lower roadbed and the
> old pavement. 3" change, 90 degree cut in the pavement, 45 mph zone. Wonder
> how many others lost wheels.
>
> Anyway, the city of Cambridge referred me to the contractor who said
> "nope, we weren't working there." I had zero further recourse.
>
> And I found this:
>
>  http://www.dailyrecord.com/news/articles/news1-potholes.htm
>
> I don't have pics. I'm not going back to Jersey for pics. I'm not going to
> stand in the middle of a 4 lane highway and take pics.
>
> I'm screwed.
>
> Lee
>
>
>
> At 11:14 AM 11/29/2007, Taka Mizutani wrote:
>
> Not the state, but from the utility company that was doing work.
>
> I'm not familiar with NJ 80, are you sure it wasn't I-80?
>
> You'll need to find out who does the paving and/or roadwork, you'll need
> to note the exact location, also possibly take photos of the pothole.
>
> Then send all of the stuff either certified mail or via express courier to
> the company that does the paving and file a claim.
>
> It took me about 6 months to get paid after fighting with the local
> township public works for several months and then with PSE&G.
>
> Taka
>
>
> On Nov 29, 2007 10:23 AM, Lee Levitt <lee at wheelman.com> wrote:
>  Has anyone been able to get reimbursement from the state of New
> Jersey for wheel damage?
>
> I was on a state highway (State Route 80, in West Patterson)
> yesterday and hit a monster pothole. At minimum, it bent one of my OZ
> SLs, perhaps damaged the tire and more...
>
> Fargin idyots, the pothole was caused by their lane by lane
> application of pavement. This particular pothole did not look new, either.
>
> Any BTDTs appreciated...
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lee
>
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