10:01 PM CDT on Thursday, April 27, 2006

By Mark Greenblatt / 11 News

It happens every hour of every day, all around you and sometimes to you: accidents.

But if you get hit by a city or county-owned vehicle, your troubles may just be the beginning.

It was early in the morning when Joshua Kitler was on his way to see a friend.

“I’m looking at the green light, fixing to go under the underpass,” Kitler said.

When at the intersection of Highway 290 and Huffmeister, a Houston police car hit Kitler’s car.

“I don’t hear any sirens, no nothing,” Kitler said. “It was real quick … an impact of 85 mph.”

KHOU-TV

If you're in an accident with a city or county vehicle, your troubles may just be beginning.

It made the impression of a lifetime.

“The impact was so hard, it sent my stomach organs all the way into my chest,” Kitler said. “My pelvis was fractured; my lung was punctured.”

So who was at fault?

Investigating deputies found the cause was an HPD officer running a red light.

And yet two years later, Kitler is still waiting for a payment from the insurers.

“I’ve got hospital bills that are stacked – thousands,” he said. “I’ll never be able to pay it back.”

He said it could bankrupt him.

“I’ll probably never have nothing,” Kitler said.

And his attorney, Keith Fletcher, said unfortunately, it’s nothing new.

“It’s an injustice,” Fletcher said. “They will try everything to deny and delay.”

So what’s going on?

It turns out the City of Houston, like many others, self-insures – acting like its own auto insurance company.

But the 11 News Defenders discovered that unlike private insurers, the City often just refuses to pay, even when its own drivers are at fault.

“It’s not a fair situation,” Randy Sorrels said.  Sorrels, who is president of the Houston Bar Association,  said even he’s been stonewalled.

“My wife was in an accident on Sept. 10, 2005,” he said.

An HPD car rear-ended her, but eight months later, Sorrels said, “I have yet to receive a single communication trying to pay this claim.”

He says that’s the case, even though the Houston Police Department found itself at fault in the crash.

Sorrels said many of the thousands of lawyers he represents also tell him: “The city is making a concerted effort to avoid paying the claims,” he continued.  “They have definitely made that decision – that it’s better to go to the courthouse as opposed to paying it out as a business would.”

And Sorrels may be right.  Why? The Defenders have discovered that more than one in every five auto claims filed against the City of Houston end up in the courts.  That’s 380 separate lawsuits in just three years.   And those lawsuits have already cost taxpayers more than one million dollars to defend, or $1,063,566, with more expenses to come.

Arturo Michel is the City Attorney. When we asked him if he was comfortable about the number of claims citizens are forced to take to litigation, he said, “I’m not sure I would say I’m comfortable with it.”

He added, “I don’t think we stonewall.”

We also asked him about the case of Josh Kitler, who says he has not even received a settlement offer from the City in more than two years.

“Obviously this is a bad case; it’s a bad case for this young man,” Michel said. “I will take a personal look at it.”

And about Houston Bar President Sorrels’s case?

“That’s not how the City should be operating,” Michel said.

So he made 11 News a promise.

“I will look at how we process claims, and I will examine it in a systematic, audit-like fashion.”

But over in Harris County, an even bigger problem ran right into Shawna Graham.

“I’ll never be the same again, not just physically, but emotionally,” Graham said.

Coming home from work, a large Harris County truck crushed her inside her own car, nearly killing her.

“I tried to swerve, but I couldn’t,” Graham said. “He just turned right into me. There was a lot of blood in the car. … I almost lost my leg.”

And after four surgeries, Graham has a titanium rod in her leg.

“I can’t run, can’t dance around with my kids like I want to,” Graham said.

Even though investigators found the truck driver at fault, Graham hasn’t seen a dime in more than two years from self-insuring Harris County.

“I thought at least justice would be served, at least my medical bills would be paid for,” Graham said.

She has already incurred more than $160,000 in medical bills, and has more surgeries planned in the near future.

“It’s just not right,” she said. “If they’re liable, they don’t have to pay you. They can drag you through the mud for years.”

So she’s suing too. But even if she wins, she said, “I’m going to get screwed.”

Why? Because a little-known state law says all Texas counties, even when they’re fault, never have to pay out more than $100,000.

So why such a low amount?

It turns out the law was written in 1969, back when man first landed on the moon, Woodstock was all the rage and gasoline only cost 25 cents a gallon.

Harris County’s Lindsay Johnson oversees the county’s claim process.

The Defenders asked him if he thought the payouts in 1969-era dollars was fair.

“As I indicated, the legislature sets those caps,” Johnson said.

But even he admitted, “If I had a claim, a personal claim, with substantial damages, obviously I would be concerned about a $100,000 cap. On a personal level, yes I would be.”

Economists like Dr. Barton Smith of the University of Houston said if you take into account 37 years of inflation, the Legislature should increase the $100,000 cap to at least $500,000.

Smith heads The Institute For Regional Forecasting, a division of for the Center for Public Policy at The University of Houston.

He says cities, such as Houston, also have a cap that hasn’t been updated since 1969. That cap for cities stands at $250,000, which Smith said is still far too low, given today’s medical costs.

This investigation has already prompted action.   Two days after the Defenders interviewed the city attorney, his office finally cut a check to the president of the Houston Bar Association.

But Josh Kitler and many others are still waiting.