Chutzpah, Thy Name Is Curtis Gokey

Curtis Gokey is employed by the city of Lodi (California) as a dump truck driver. He accidentally negligently drove his dump truck into a private vehicle.

A private vehicle, that is, owned by one Curtis Gokey.

So, Gokey filed a tort claim against the City of Lodi, asking for replacement value of his vehicle, which had been damaged through the negligence of a municipal employee. Unsurprisingly, his claim was denied.

So his wife Rhonda filed an identical tort claim. Yesterday, that claim was also denied on the basis that while Rhonda didn't destroy the vehicle, the city would have a 100% indemnity claim against the community property itself.

Rhonda's claim is better than Curtis'. But I wouldn't take it on contingency.