TOPEKA (KSNT) – The Kansas Supreme Court has cleared the way for a local man’s negligence lawsuit against the City of Topeka, stemming from a crash he alleges was caused by a large pothole on a city street.
The Kansas Supreme Court issued a ruling on Sept. 11 in the case of Troy Alan Martin v. City of Topeka. Justice K.J. Wall wrote a unanimous decision for the Court, allowing the case to move forward after lower courts previously dismissed it.
In his lawsuit, Troy Martin said that in July 2019 he suffered injuries when he was ejected from his SUV during a rollover crash in the 4800 block of Southwest Topeka Boulevard. He claimed a two-foot-long pothole in the roadway was to blame.
Martin told 27 News he suffered lasting effects from the crash and later required surgery for his injuries.
“Kept me up at night for about the next year,” Martin said.
Martin filed a lawsuit against the City of Topeka in 2021, claiming the city was negligent for failing to maintain its streets at a level safe for travel.
“Just kind of mind-blown about how bad the roads are,” Martin said.
The Shawnee County District Court dismissed Martin’s case before it went to trial. A Court of Appeals panel agreed with the decision. Both courts came to their conclusions based on the “public-duty doctrine.” The rule generally shields governments from negligence suits over how well they perform public services.
The Kansas Supreme Court’s decision reverses the lower courts’ decisions. Justices ruled the public-duty doctrine does not apply to this case as, under Kansas law, once a city opens a street to the public, the city has a duty to keep the street in a reasonably safe condition for people who use it.
“Whether the City breached that duty here turns on disputed facts — including whether the City knew or should have known about the pothole — and the parties offered conflicting evidence on those points. Those same disputed facts also affect whether the City is separately protected from liability under the Kansas Tort Claims Act. While that law protects governments when they make genuinely discretionary decisions, governments have no discretion to ignore road hazards they knew or should have known about.”
Excerpt from press release issued by Lisa Taylor, public information director for the Kansas Judicial Branch
Martin said his attorney told him the case is expected to go to trial. However, a date has not been set.
We reached out to the City of Topeka for comment on the ruling. City spokesman Dan Garrett said that because the case is still in active litigation, the city is unable to provide a statement on it at this time.
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