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By Tyler Leeds • The Bulletin

Certain stretches of road in Bend are best handled by lunar rovers, but for those who decide to brave it in the family car and end up with a flat tire or busted axle, chances are the city won’t help cover your mechanic bill.

Of the 101 claims for damages filed with the city since Jan. 1, 2015, complaints about damage sustained on city roads are the most common. Of those 101 claims, only six were settled, three of which were related to unsafe asphalt. Six claims are still being evaluated, and the remaining 89 were denied by the city’s insurance provider, Citycounty Insurance Services, which provides coverage to 98 percent of Oregon cities. The city is paying $443,780 for the insurance coverage this year, which also includes auto insurance for city vehicles.

“On the denied claims, it should be noted that CIS makes the determination of liability for the city,” the city’s risk claims manager, Brenda Mingus, wrote in an email. “A claim may be denied for several reasons. For example, the city had no liability, a third party was liable and CIS tendered the claim to that third party, or the claimant did not follow through with their claim.”

When the city receives a claim, it is treated as a tort, a legal document that must be filed with a public agency before someone can sue that agency. While not everyone filing a claim intends to sue, the city forwards all claims to CIS for investigation.

Of the six claims that resulted in settlements, CIS paid for three. In the largest, sewage filled a home during a pipe-cleaning project, leading to a $19,113.45 payment. In another, a city vehicle backed into a driver, which was settled for $5,744.91. In the third, a gust of wind blew open a city-owned gate, damaging a car, an issue settled for $500.

The city handled three claims on its own to avoid a game of liability hot potato with CIS and Deschutes County. All three claims are tied to an incident where three motorcyclists crashed after riding over an unmarked stretch of loose gravel where the city and county were together doing roadwork.

“The responsibility for signage wasn’t entirely clear, but we need a good working relationship with the county because it saves us tax dollars to have them do a lot of our paving,” recalled City Attorney Mary Winters. “So rather than get into a dispute with the county, we made this decision. It’s a case where our interest and the interest of CIS (had they attempted to seek money from the county) were not necessarily the same.”

The city made three payments from the incident, in the amounts of $13,152.83, $3,904.64 and $2,341.80. The smallest settlement went to Krista Mudrick, who has been charged for crimes related to an alleged taxpayer-funded affair she had with former Deschutes County Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Beard, who is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sheriff’s department before he was fired.

Mudrick has been charged with giving a false statement to federal authorities, who allege Beard gave her at least $100,000 as well as a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Mudrick, 35, was a sheriff’s office employee between February 2011 and March 2013.

In all of those cases in which CIS made a payment, Winters noted, the city was possibly negligent, a legal term meaning the city “did something wrong.”

However, a settlement doesn’t necessarily mean CIS feels the city is at fault.

“What it means is (CIS) thought it was possible negligence could be shown,” Winters said. “It’s a decision that it’s better to go ahead and not have litigation filed, which means everyone pays lawyers. It’s about limiting the city’s risk of exposure.”

So why are potholes not the city’s fault?

“The basic idea is that there isn’t a legal obligation to provide pothole-free streets,” Winters said.

Instead, the city is required to follow its own policies for responding to potholes, as established by the elected City Council. The city’s policies prioritize busier streets and also acknowledge the city works with limited resources needed for services like police and fire.

“People think of the city as an outside entity, but the city is the people; it’s the money people pay in their property tax bills and utility rates,” Winters said. “We’re always trying to assess what could become a potential problem and to address it. It’s impossible to not have any tort claims, but we try to keep them down. We want to reduce lawsuits and risk.”

— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com

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