Legal FAQs Yes. But, as with suing the State, you have to be very careful to follow the notice rules applicable for "local" governmental entities. This is true ONLY for municipalities and counties. But, as with suing the State, you have to be very careful to follow the notice rules applicable for "local" governmental entities. This is true ONLY for municipalities and counties.
For municipalities, you have six (6) months from an occurrence to provide pre-suit notice of a claim; for counties you have twelve (12) months.
Failure to strictly comply with these rules will forever bar all lawsuits for state law violations against a municipality or county entity.
Hence, under the current status of the law, you would not need to provide pre-suit notice to a local public water authority, public electricity company, or school board. Also, currently, you can just a file a lawsuit against a county entity, without providing the pre-suit notice. But, it is wise to try and strictly comply with all pre-suit notice requirements, just in case courts reconsider any of these issues! Again, strict adherence to the statutory requirements of pre-suitAlso, you have to distinguish when you are suing the entity and when you might be suing the individual governmental actor – the pre-suit notice rules do not apply to suits only against an individual. And, as opposed to a state employee, local government employees can be sued directly for unintentional violations of a person’s rights not rising to a level of "actual malice."
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