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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 24, 2013 01:19 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Mark B. Cohen |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Increasing the liability cap for Philadelphia |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation that would amend the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act. A massive water main break again caused havoc in Philadelphia. The day before Christmas Eve, a break left over one hundred thousand residents without water, which included many of my constituents, businesses and schools in my district. City officials report the loss of 20 to 23 million gallons of water. That's the equivalent of 30 to 34 Olympic-size swimming pools and will undoubtedly result in claims for damages to be filed against the city. You may recall a similar situation occurring last summer in Senator Farnese’s district where a municipal water main break ruptured, leaving nearly a hundred households to file claims against the City of Philadelphia for losses to their homes and property. Under the act, (specifically, 42 Pa. C.S. §8553), a $500,000 cap exists on the damages recoverable from the city. In the case of the water main break, $500,000 would cover just under a quarter of the claims made by the individual claimants. The $500,000 cap was instituted in 1980 and has not been reconsidered since that time. It is important to note that the current §8553 requires that any insurance benefits a claimant receives or are entitled to under their homeowners or other policy be deducted from the damages that could be considered recoverable via the municipality. However, in order to better protect property owners around the state from personal property damages that are not recoverable via their insurance policies, I am proposing to increase the municipal tort cap under this section to $10 million to assist with the recovery of property in these types of situations. If you have any questions about this legislation, please contact Kathy Seidl of my office at 787-4117 or kseidl@pahouse.net. Thank you. |
Introduced as HB2032