Ohio City Won’t Pay for Sinkhole-Damaged Truck

A truck owner says the city of Dayton, Ohio, should compensate him for sinkhole damage that left his truck inoperable.

The Dayton Daily News reports that 52-year-old Mike McDonald is infuriated that the city rejected his $10,000 claim. He says the city should have known about water line problems that caused the road to collapse, with his 2000 Chevy S-10 plunging into the sinkhole last Nov. 18.

He had to pay for a replacement truck, and also is paying storage fees on his inoperable truck.

“Basically, I went from no car payment to a $338-a-month payment,” McDonald said.

Dayton officials say the city isn’t legally liable. It didn’t have any prior notice of a road defect. The collapse was caused by a water main break.

“We pay the claims we are legally responsible to pay, bu the case law says we’re not the insurer of people who travel on the roadways,” said John Musto, Dayton’s assistant attorney.

Officials say the city could have been liable had officials known about a roadway problem and had time to correct it. Officials said they couldn’t have known about the break until it happened.

McDonald said he has considered suing, but is afraid he’ll just get stuck with another bill.