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The city will likely not be paying the claims of Lincoln homeowners whose mailboxes were sideswiped by a city snow plow during the weekend of Feb. 16-17.

Miki Esposito, director of Lincoln Transportation and Utilities, wanted the city to pay the claims, and she and her staff encouraged people to file a claim for a damaged mailbox.

She was hoping to create an exception, allowing reimbursement to mailbox owners along Normal Boulevard, where a city snow plow damaged or destroyed about 30 mailboxes over a stretch of 20 blocks.

But the law got the last word. And the city Law Department staff will be recommending denial of mailbox damage claims, as they have in the past.

The city has no legal obligation to pay for mailboxes damaged or destroyed during snow removal, according to Chris Connolly, acting city attorney.

State law specifically allows an exemption to paying for damaged mailboxes, and a city ordinance releases the city of liability for mailboxes, which are in the city right of way, Connolly said.

The mailboxes "are on city property. Things that are in the right of way may be subject to damage and that is at the risk of the property owner," Connolly said.