Caltrans’ Chinchilla told us two main factors determine Caltrans’ liability -- and whether it pays out tax dollars to repair your car. First: awareness. Caltrans is not liable if it’s not aware of a pothole.
“We don’t know what we don’t know,” Chinchilla said.
But even if Caltrans knows about a pothole, it might not be on the hook.
“There is a reasonable time that we are allocated to go and fix the pothole,” Chinchilla said.
Officially, state law says Caltrans gets “sufficient time” to respond. But the 1963 law doesn’t define what “sufficient” is. That’s murky.
Mike insists his case is not.
“It’s so clear cut and dry in my mind,” he said.
But here’s the thing: his rejection letter doesn’t include any specifics about what Caltrans knew or when, so no way to know if it filled the pothole in “sufficient time.” Mike sees room for improvement with the pothole process.