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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
04/19/2024 07:11 AM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20150&cosponId=17091
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House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: February 1, 2015 10:44 AM
From: Representative Mark B. Cohen
To: All House members
Subject: Increasing the liability cap for Philadelphia
 
In the near future, I plan to reintroduce HB2032 that would amend the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act to increase the liability cap for Philadelphia from $500,000 to $10 million.

A massive water main break caused havoc in Philadelphia the day before Christmas Eve in 2013. The break left over one hundred thousand residents without water, which included many of my constituents, businesses and schools in my district. City officials reported the loss of 20 to 23 million gallons of water. That's the equivalent of 30 to 34 Olympic-size swimming pools and resulted in untold claims for damages filed against the city. In 2012, a water main broke in Senator Farnese’s district, leaving nearly a hundred households to file claims against the City of Philadelphia for losses to their homes and property.

Pennsylvania law, Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial procedure) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, §8553 (Limitations on damages), provides for a $500,000 cap on recoverable damages. The $500,000 cap was instituted in 1980 and has not been reconsidered since that time. The law further 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.

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 HB699