Avoid the Liabilities Inherent with Snow and Ice
Manahan, Trimble & Zimmerman Co., LPA, where his practice
is focused on business and insurance litigation and coverage
matters, including premises liability and special investigations,
arson and fraud.
Zimmerman Co., LPA
8th Floor, 405 Madison Avenue
Toledo, Ohio 43604
419.248.2600 Phone
419.248.2614 Fax
Tzimmerman@rcmtz.com
www.rcmtz.com
dealing with another winter and the snow
and ice that come with it. Though most
people think of snow as pretty at first,
followed by the realization that it can be
a hassle, business owners are always left
with another thought: Is the snow and
ice yet another liability I need to worry
about? While it is certainly impossible
to address the specifics of liability for all
states (and one has to question if Hawaii
ever needs to concern itself), thinking
through the issues below will allow any
small business owner, risk or property
manager to assess potential liabilities
and protect against them.
tential liability is to know the general
approach your state takes toward liability.
There are two primary approaches to
liability for snow and ice, but the trend
seems to be toward putting some respon-
sibility on the customer or "business
invitee" to protect themselves against
open and obvious natural accumulations
ally holds that a business or property
owner is not liable to business invitees for
injuries arising out of the natural accu-
mulation of snow and ice (open and obvi-
ous states). The second approach places a
responsibility on the business or premises
owner to take reasonable steps to remove
snow and ice in a timely manner (affirma-
tive duty states).
While obviously a business owner
would prefer the first approach, even
businesses in open and obvious states
still have potential liability. The term
natural accumulations of snow and ice,
leaves lurking in the shadows the evil
step-brother "unnatural accumulations of
snow and ice" for which there may still
be liability. While snow and ice that falls
to the ground, warms, melts and reforms
is not generally unnatural snow and ice,
there are times when natural can be made
into unnatural accumulations. One ex-
ample is where a shopping plaza or plant
plows all of the snow to the exterior of a
parking lot and creates large mountains of
snow using a front end loader. What once
become an unnatural accumulation. Simi-
larly, where a downspout dumps water
in front of a store's door, what is natural
water could potentially become unnatural
ice. Thus, merely because a business is
located in an open and obvious state does
not mean there is no cause for concern.
that a business has facilities in, the next
step is to actually evaluate the property.
The purpose of this step is to ascertain
everywhere that snow accumulates in
light of where people walk/operate.
Perhaps more important in either type
of state however, is to observe where
natural accumulations are becoming un-
natural and dangerous accumulations. If
the property manager always walks in the
back door every day, he or she may not
realize that the front downspout empties
water right into the parking lot in front
of the main customer doorway, where an
unnatural depression exists. Similarly,
without an inspection of the premises,
what may seem like a clean parking lot,
may in actuality have become a huge
snow mountain (i.e. liability) next to
the crosswalk the public uses. Thus an
actual walk across the property will allow
a business to better identify its actual
potential liabilities.