The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that a city can鈥檛 be sued if a driver鈥檚 view of a stop or other traffic control sign is blocked by shrubs or plants, unless they鈥檙e actually growing on the sign.
In 2013, Judy Pelletier ran a stop sign in Campbell near Youngstown and hit another car. She sued the city, claiming she couldn鈥檛 see the sign because of trees and shrubs in the privately owned devil strip near it. Her attorney Gregg Rossi told the Ohio Supreme Court in February that the city was at fault for not removing the foliage. 鈥淭hey erected the stop sign, they have a duty to make sure, to keep it in repair.鈥�
But the city鈥檚 attorney James Mathews said the sign could be seen from other angles. 鈥淎 complete blockage is required for there to be an exception from immunity triggered.鈥�
The justices overruled a lower court and sided with the city, saying that since the foliage wasn鈥檛 on the sign, the city had no obligation to remove it.
