Driver hits fortified mailbox now a parapalegic--

O

ohioboy

Well-known Member
Location
Ohio
Is the homeowner legally responsible for his injuries? A Huron County, Ohio Common Pleas Court Jury ruled against the driver. An Appeal to Ohio's Sixth circuit COA affirmed the lower courts findings. Now the Ohio Supreme Court has accepted the discretionary appeal.

Appeals Court decision, conclusion of facts end at par. 34.

https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/pdf_viewer/pdf_viewer.aspx?pdf=890650.pdf

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news...uses-truck-to-flip-oh-supreme-court-reviewing
 

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I don't really understand what the filing is saying. But I wonder if the driver should hold the county or city responsible? In my city, you have to get a permit to build a solid mailbox structure and it has to meet ordinances - so many feet back from the street, not on a main road or corner, sometimes it can be brick, sometimes it has to be wood, etc.
 
The basic fact to decide is if the lower court's upholding of Summary Judgment for the defendant was proper. I have to correct my 1st post, the Huron County court decision was not decided by a jury, it was SJ for the homeowner/defendant.
 

ohioboy said:
The basic fact to decide is if the lower court's upholding of Summary Judgment for the defendant was proper. I have to correct my 1st post, the Huron County court decision was not decided by a jury, it was SJ for the homeowner.
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If they agree the homeowner isn't responsible then the complainant should try to sue the city or county. If the homeowner had to get a permit to build the mailbox, that's what I would do; sue whoever approved the permit.
 
Murrmurr said:
If they agree the homeowner isn't responsible then the complainant should try to sue the city or county. If the homeowner had to get a permit to build the mailbox, that's what I would do; sue whoever approved the permit.
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No permit was needed, even if one was, to sue the govt., one must overcome sovereign immunity.
 
When I put up my mailbox A person from the Post office came Out & inspected where I wanted to put it. They told me to move it about 4 ft. farther back off the road.

Kids would go by & hit it with ball bats, so I had a special steel box made, I asked the post office to come out & looked at it & they said it was legal in size. So no more problems with ball bats.

Then some of the kids with supped-up trucks would run over it. So I drove a steel fence post next to the hold-up post, took my torch & cut it off just the height of oil & transmission pans. Now when they ran over it I saw oil tracks going to the town of the other way. A couple of those & no more ball bats or trucks running over my Mailbox.
 
Driver loses control and slides off the road onto private property. Runs into a car parked in the driveway? Runs into a tree on the private property? Runs into a steel mailbox post on private property? What's the difference? Why should the homeowner be liable?

Driver loses control and slides off the road onto private property. Homeowner is shoveling snow off his driveway. Out of control vehicle hits homeowner. Should driver not be liable?

Don't want to see anyone severely injured. I just cannot understand where the homeowner would be liable for the injury. And, it appears the court can't either.

Some years ago, a car hit our mailbox during the nighttime hours. We have some large limestone rocks surrounding the area where the mailbox is installed. One of those rocks was shoved clear out in the street. Anti-freeze was streamed down the street. Someone was, evidently, inebriated enough he/she didn't want to call the police. We just put the rock back where it was and put in a new mailbox. Neighbors across the street have a limestone "pedestal" their mailbox sets in. These are on private property, even though it is part of the street easement. But, there are hundreds of trees in the street easements around our city.
 
In some of our counties, there is such a thing called ā€œCovenants, Conditions and Restrictions.ā€ One of the covenants is a legal loophole which states that certain things on a personā€™s property carry a reasonable expectation to be what it is. For example; if it looks like a mailbox, it should be a mailbox. Mailboxes generally are not stuffed with cement, so it is reasonable to expect that if I would crash into one, the mailbox should give way to my vehicle.

Another example would be if I would be jogging and cut through a personā€™s backyard, I shouldnā€™t trip over an unseen obstacle. There was a case where this happened after I retired and I read about it in the newspaper. A jogger was running and it began to rain hard, so he decided to cut through a yard. In that yard, the owner had strung up a line about 6 inches high that surrounded (marked) his property lines. The jogger tripped over the line and broke his collar bone. The jogger sued on the grounds of ā€œreasonable expectationsā€ and that normal people do not string their property line with wire 6 inches off the ground.

The jogger won his case and was awarded thousands of dollars.
 
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Another take... A driver loses control and hits a "typical" mailbox. The post sheers, sending the mailbox through the windshield injuring or killing the driver. Is the homeowner liable? A driver loses control and hits a mailbox that resists sheering/moving. The vehicle's airbag is deployed and the driver walks away. Is the homeowner liable for vehicle repairs?

The case linked by the OP says hitting the mailbox caused the truck to flip and the driver was injured... leaving him paralyzed. Would he have been better served to have a typical mailbox sheer and come through the windshield?

I still believe the homeowner should be exempt from liability as I read the link. However, I am not the judge, sitting on the jury, or versed in case law.
 
Sister live in rural retirement settlement in Michigan, the houses are several hundred yards from road.
Teens (they assumed it was teen motorist) would come by hook chains to mailbox, drag them off...

Sister replaced three mailboxes and post.

The forth time, her handymen put in large angle iron post,cemented iron post three feet down.
(no extra charge, handymen lived in area, was tired of people preying on old folks)

A month or so later, Sis found pickup bumper, twisted...mailbox was leaning about thirty degrees.

(Handymen made some money, putting in fortified mailboxes for the old folks)
 
I have often wondered why our mail boxes are so
different, we have a slot in the door and if a package
is too large, the mail man rings the bell, or puts a card
in telling you that it can be collected at the depot.

Maybe your mail man has a larger route to deliver and
has no time!

Mike.

Mail Box.jpg
 
Tom 86 said:
When I put up my mailbox A person from the Post office came Out & inspected where I wanted to put it. They told me to move it about 4 ft. farther back off the road.

Kids would go by & hit it with ball bats, so I had a special steel box made, I asked the post office to come out & looked at it & they said it was legal in size. So no more problems with ball bats.

Then some of the kids with supped-up trucks would run over it. So I drove a steel fence post next to the hold-up post, took my torch & cut it off just the height of oil & transmission pans. Now when they ran over it I saw oil tracks going to the town of the other way. A couple of those & no more ball bats or trucks running over my Mailbox.
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When we put a new mailbox in at our old house, post person said ā€œlooks goodā€. šŸ˜‚
 
Mike said:
I have often wondered why our mail boxes are so
different, we have a slot in the door and if a package
is too large, the mail man rings the bell, or puts a card
in telling you that it can be collected at the depot.

Maybe your mail man has a larger route to deliver and
has no time!

Mike.

View attachment 171412
Click to expand...
Our mail person, like Amazon, leaves it in front of the door. They barely deliver once, and they are not hauling it again. šŸ˜‚
 
Mike said:
I have often wondered why our mail boxes are so
different, we have a slot in the door and if a package
is too large, the mail man rings the bell, or puts a card
in telling you that it can be collected at the depot.

Maybe your mail man has a larger route to deliver and
has no time!

Mike.

View attachment 171412
Click to expand...
Interesting to see you call ours a 'mailbox'...Mike..although it's called a Letterbox...
 
Is this about a mailbox or the driver injured himself on another's property during a chargable traffic accident? If the accident was charged to the driver I'd say it's the end of story. These legal machinations might say different but the accident was the driver's fault.

What's next a caution sign-STURDY MAILBOX, DONT CRASH INTO.

What if the driver injured himself crashing into the owners house wall.
 
Yes, it is about the mailbox and it's immovable nature. If it was say bendable/retractable, the impact would not result in the defendant being Paralyzed, is the argument before the court.
 
An associated but not catastrophic alot of people put stones and rocks on the edges of their lawn and sidewalk to prevent people from parking on their lawns/grass. Some say if they damage their car on them the homeowner is responsibile others say no because they are improvising parking space by parking on a private lawn and not street.

Lived on an old highway with legal and enough room to park on street but many just decided to improvise and park on the grass frequently leaving a moon landscape, tracks, mud etc so I put rocks on the edge and sidewalk. Cut out the regulars ie the local phone call takers, gps lookers but the novices unfamilar pulled right on the lawn without hesitation and scraped the bottom of their cars(rocks clearly visible 4-6" above grass line). Most of them couldn't even figure out what happen because as they pulled away they would stop check just to make sure they weren't dragging anything and pulled off. But that shows they're used to parking on lawns curbs etc.

Some in the neighborhood got so tired of lawn and curb damage they would buy huge rocks, plant bushes flowere etc or planted enough reflector poles to mark an airplane runway. And people still wind up damaging lawns, curbs and probably their car. Setting aside damage many block the sidewalk as well by parking on curb/lawn.

Biggest problem I had were landscapers/thieves taking the rocks on several occassions
 
Mike said:
I have often wondered why our mail boxes are so
different, we have a slot in the door and if a package
is too large, the mail man rings the bell, or puts a card
in telling you that it can be collected at the depot.

Maybe your mail man has a larger route to deliver and
has no time!

Mike.

View attachment 171412
Click to expand...
A lot of older homes I've seen have mail slots like that, but the post office doesn't use them. I like them and think they are charming.

Now the mail carrier drives a jeep-like vehicle, and just leans over to put the mail in the box. If mail slots were in use, s/he would have to walk his route, carrying a heavy bag of junk mail. These loads can cause back problems, which leads to possible disabilities over time. This has been a problem at the postal service, at least in the past.
 

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