A genuinely strict 60-day notice requirement
Under R.I. Gen. Laws § 45-15-9, a person injured due to a defect in a highway, sidewalk, causeway, or bridge must, within 60 days, give the responsible town notice of the time, place, and cause of the injury. If the town doesn't make satisfaction, the person then has three years from the date of injury to commence an action against the town treasurer.
A genuinely unforgiving standard: courts won't waive it
Rhode Island courts have described this 60-day notice as a jurisdictional condition precedent to bringing suit — language the courts have used to mean the requirement "must be strictly obeyed." Unlike a separate, related municipal claim presentment provision, notice under § 45-15-9 generally cannot be waived by the municipality, even if the municipality otherwise had some awareness of the situation.
Real cases, dismissed over location specificity
This strictness isn't theoretical. In Ahearn v. City of Providence, a real case involving a sidewalk fall, the Rhode Island Supreme Court upheld dismissal because the plaintiff's notice was found geographically inaccurate — it didn't describe the actual location of the defect with reasonable specificity, and an attempt to correct that description came after the 60-day window had already closed. In another real case, a notice sent 124 days after the injury was held untimely without dispute.
A separate, related requirement
Beyond this 60-day notice, a different provision, § 45-15-5, requires presenting a general account of a money claim or demand to the town council, with 40 days for the town to respond before a lawsuit can be filed. In the right circumstances, this separate claim presentment can be combined with the 60-day notice under § 45-15-9, but the two are legally distinct requirements with their own separate case law.
A narrow exception for genuine incapacity
Under § 45-15-10, the 60-day notice period can sometimes be extended if it was genuinely impossible for the injured person to provide timely notice due to physical or mental incapacity — a real but narrow exception to an otherwise strict rule.
Why precision in the notice itself genuinely matters
Given how strictly Rhode Island courts have enforced this requirement, describing the defect's location with real specificity — measured from known, fixed points, ideally supported by a photograph — is a genuinely important step, not a minor formality, in any claim involving a sidewalk, road, or bridge defect.