Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 3, 1993 TAG: 9308030117
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
She ran from the car, shaking and crying. The accident left a gaping hole in the top of the car, but the city won't pay the estimated $1,650 repair cost.
The city's excuse is an old standby in English law - sovereign immunity.
"It's not exactly a new idea. One of the rules of law in English law was that you cannot sue the king in the king's court," said assistant city attorney L. Steven Emmert.
Sovereign immunity exempts municipalities from liabilities arising from everything from police protection to garbage removal.
Faridoon Ferhut, Farzana Ferhut's husband, said he doesn't want to sue the city. He just wants to get his car fixed, and the only way he can afford the repair himself is to take out a loan.
"I think it's a question of principle," he said.
Ferhut has hammered the roof back into shape as much as he can. But the hole had to be covered with duct tape, which leaks in rain and peels off when it's hot.
The Ferhuts, natives of Afghanistan, have lived here 10 years. They took great pride in their city until the accident.
"How can I take pride in living in a city when city management's first reaction in a situation like that is not to help a family, but how to get around it?" Ferhut said. "Had that been my lamppost, I would have been in court facing all kinds of negligence charges."
But even if the city wanted to help, it couldn't. In 1984, the state attorney general ruled that localities cannot bypass their right to sovereign immunity.
No one knows exactly what caused the light to fall. It could have been installed improperly or loosened by prior accidents at the intersection.
At the time, according to city records, the cast aluminum base that held the light pole was "completely unsecured."
by CNB