2012 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 13a - Highways and Bridges
Chapter 238 - Highway Construction and Maintenance
Section 13a-149 - Damages for injuries by means of defective roads and bridges.

Any person injured in person or property by means of a defective road or bridge may recover damages from the party bound to keep it in repair. No action for any such injury sustained on or after October 1, 1982, shall be brought except within two years from the date of such injury. No action for any such injury shall be maintained against any town, city, corporation or borough, unless written notice of such injury and a general description of the same, and of the cause thereof and of the time and place of its occurrence, shall, within ninety days thereafter be given to a selectman or the clerk of such town, or to the clerk of such city or borough, or to the secretary or treasurer of such corporation. If the injury has been caused by a structure legally placed on such road by a railroad company, it, and not the party bound to keep the road in repair, shall be liable therefor. No notice given under the provisions of this section shall be held invalid or insufficient by reason of an inaccuracy in describing the injury or in stating the time, place or cause of its occurrence, if it appears that there was no intention to mislead or that such town, city, corporation or borough was not in fact misled thereby.

(1949 Rev., S. 2126; 1951, S. 1180d; 1958 Rev., S. 13-11; 1959, P.A. 372; 1963, P.A. 226, S. 149; P.A. 76-222, S. 2; P.A. 82-5; P.A. 86-338, S. 14.)

History: 1959 act extended time for giving notice of injury due to snow and ice from 10 to 30 days; 1963 act replaced previous provisions: See title history; P.A. 76-222 changed deadline for notice to town officer from 60 to 90 days after injury and deleted special provision re injury from defect caused by ice and/or snow; P.A. 82-5 required that actions for injuries sustained on or after October 1, 1982, be brought within two years of the injury; P.A. 86-338 deleted provision which exempted an injured person from the requirement of giving written notice if an action is commenced by complaint setting forth the same information as required in the notice within the time limited for the giving of such notice.

See Sec. 7-163a re municipal liability for ice and snow on public sidewalks.

See Sec. 7-308 re municipalities’ assumption of liability for damages caused by firemen.

In action pursuant to section, costs may be taxed against a defendant municipality. 4 CA 30. Savings clause of section must be pleaded and evidence introduced to prove its elements. Id., 315. Cited. 5 CA 104; 8 CA 169; 11 CA 1; 15 CA 185; Id., 668; 16 CA 213; 21 CA 633; 25 CA 67; 26 CA 407; Id., 534; 27 CA 487; 28 CA 449; 29 CA 565; judgment reversed, see 228 C. 358; Id., 791; 30 CA 594; 31 CA 906; 33 CA 56; Id., 754; 36 CA 158; 38 CA 14; 39 CA 289; 40 CA 179; 45 CA 413. Notice provisions discussed. 47 CA 365. Walkway deemed to be road or bridge since it was on public property leading from city street to public school and there was reasonable anticipation that the public would make use of it. Id., 734. Plaintiff could not prevail on claim that because section contains its own limitation period, court improperly relied on Sec. 52-584, which is applicable to negligence cases in general; trial court properly determined statute of limitations was not tolled during plaintiff’s illness because this section contains no such tolling provision. 48 CA 60. Notice requirement not met where plaintiff’s letter of notice did not arrive at town clerk’s office until after the ninetieth day and where addressee on the letter was not a person employed in clerk’s office or known to town clerk. 58 CA 191. Savings clause does not extend time requirement for delivery of notice. 67 CA 464. Plaintiff bears burden of proving delivery and actual receipt of notice. 72 CA 766. Notice by plaintiff’s attorney that was received by town clerk more than ninety days from date of claimed injury and e-mail sent from plaintiff’s supervisor to supervisor of a community center did not meet notice requirements of highway defect statute in order to invoke subject matter jurisdiction. 96 CA 387. Because there was no factual dispute that access to a transfer station was restricted and was, therefore, not open to the public, the court properly determined plaintiff’s claim did not fall within the purview of the defective highway statute. 110 CA 657. Section and Sec. 13a-144 are not irreconcilably in conflict and do not prevent plaintiff from recovering from either state or municipal governmental entity if municipal employees caused a defect on a state highway because liability depends on existence of a defect, not the underlying causes which produced it. 116 CA 28. Failure to comply with Sec. 14-300c(a) demonstrated negligence on the part of plaintiff and precluded recovery under this section. 119 CA 724. Trial court properly concluded that plaintiff’s claim fell within the purview of section and granted defendant’s motion to dismiss for failure to comply with section’s notice requirement because an improperly positioned storm drain cover located on a sidewalk is a defect in the highway and the facts admitted to in the pleadings name the defendant as the party bound to keep the property at issue in repair; highway defect statute is a legislative exception to the immunity of municipalities at common law and must be strictly construed. 125 CA 149.

What is sufficient notice. 2 CS 41; 14 CS 365; 18 CS 330; 19 CS 43. Statute applied to the City of New Haven. 2 CS 41; 4 CS 401, 481; 5 CS 88, 193, 312; 6 CS 44, 491; 7 CS 245, 297; 9 CS 79; 29 CS 75. Cited. 3 CS 12. Section grants right of action. 4 CS 401. Contributory act of another. Id., 481. Civil liability of property owner in absence of an ordinance creating it. Id. Complaint based on nuisance. 5 CS 81; Id., 268; 16 CS 222. No action at common law in absence of negligence. 5 CS 88. Cited. Id., 193. Sidewalk built for travel under normal conditions is devoid of defect. Id., 312. Notice improperly addressed. Id., 493; 16 CS 136. Cited. 7 CS 143; Id., 297. Notice condition precedent to recovery. Id., 245. Contents of notice. Id., 379. Notice concerning ice and snow. 8 CS 471. Cited. 9 CS 79. General description of “defective road”. 10 CS 22. Cited. Id., 521. Suit against both city and town. 11 CS 114. How “time” of injury is stated. 12 CS 246. Cited. Id., 267; Id., 283; Id., 309. Burden of plaintiff to prove that defective notice was not intended to mislead municipality. 14 CS 106. Action against Waterbury must be read with city charter. Id., 403. Terms of statute may not be waived. 15 CS 442. Notice requirement not obviated because officer has knowledge of the fact. Id. Notice not required if action based on negligence. 16 CS 222. Cited. 17 CS 114. Commencement of action as alternative to notice. Id., 420. Governmental immunity not a defense to action under section. 18 CS 124. Cited. Id., 501; 20 CS 142. Action against city under section and against another defendant for nuisance can be joined but claim must be in alternative. 22 CS 74, 76. Complaint demurrable where plaintiff did not allege exercise of due care or freedom from contributory negligence. Id., 75, 77. Whether path in public park was part of public highway system and was being used by plaintiff as traveler within meaning of section are questions of fact to be determined on trial of case. Id., 456. Savings clause serves to obviate inaccuracies in description of injuries; comparison with Sec. 13a-144. 23 CS 113. Cited. Id., 132. Redrafted count of complaint, substituted after demurrer, should have alleged requisite notice had been given. Id., 147. Cited. Id., 152. Where plaintiff brought action under Sec. 7-465 against local board of education to recover for injuries resulting from school bus accident, held action should have been brought under this section. 25 CS 305. Purpose of notice requirement. Id., 358. Cited. 26 CS 74. A malfunctioning traffic light is a defect in the highway. 29 CS 108. Municipality liable for invisible stop sign. Id., 352. Cited. 31 CS 442; 44 CS 45; Id., 389.

Although a notice will not be held invalid because of inaccuracy in describing the cause of the injury, where there is in effect no cause of injury stated the notice is invalid. 3 Conn. Cir. Ct. 644.