On May 12, 2018, the victim woman was riding through Tilden Regional Park when she crashed her bike on a poorly paved, potholed section of Grizzly Peak Boulevard.
She suffered serious injuries from the crash, including paralysis. The woman and her husband filed a lawsuit against Oakland alleging that the road’s crumbling conditions caused the crash.
The Oakland City Council voted to settle the lawsuit by agreeing to pay $6.5 million, partly to cover the lady's medical expenses. The amount ties another recent lawsuit settlement as the highest in recent history due to unsafe road conditions.
In December, the City Council approved a $6.5 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit filed by a 57-year-old East Bay resident who in 2020 was thrown from his bike when he hit a dangerous pavement seam on MacArthur Boulevard. The resident fractured vertebrae in his spine and suffered other serious injuries.
Over 500 lawsuits filed by pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers between 2014 and 2023 have cost Oakland about $35 million, according to an Oaklandside analysis.
The city pays for these settlements partly through a self-insurance liability fund that has a yearly budget of about $60 million. Most of this money comes from the city’s general purpose fund. Oakland will pay $3.5 million of the total $6.5 million in the current case.
Some residents told the City Council during their meeting on that the city should conduct an analysis to figure out why it is sued so often over its streets. “$6.5 million dollars tonight based on a pothole,” one frustrated person said.
A Department of Transportation analysis in 2022 found that the main cause of crashes that have seriously injured or killed people is inadequate investment by the city in its infrastructure. To reduce its liability and make roads safer, the city has a long-term paving plan that focuses on patching potholes and resurfacing the worst roads and sidewalks.
