§ 102A.005.Notice

A pre-suit notice requirement, and three months is a long one.

A municipality or county is entitled to receive notice of a claim not later than three months before the date a claimant files an action.

The length is the notable feature. Most pre-suit notice periods in this code are measured in days; three months is a substantial delay before a challenge can be brought.

The purpose is to let the local government fix the problem. A city told that an ordinance is preempted can repeal or amend it, and the litigation becomes unnecessary.

That is a sensible use of the time given how these disputes arise. An ordinance may have been adopted without anyone considering the preemption statute, and a city council can act more quickly than a court.

Two things must be described, and the notice must do so reasonably: the injury claimed, and the ordinance, order, or rule that is the cause of the injury.

"Reasonably describe" is a practical standard, not a pleading requirement — the notice must be clear enough for the government to identify what is complained of and act on it.

Identifying the ordinance is the more important of the two. A city cannot repeal what it has not been told about, and a general complaint about local regulation would not serve the section’s purpose.

The section is drafted as an entitlement of the government rather than as a condition on the claimant, which is an unusual formulation for a notice provision.

The three-month period sits awkwardly with the threatened-injury standing rule, since a business facing imminent enforcement must wait a quarter before it can sue.