ABA Family Legal Guide

Personal Injury

Negligence

Injuries at Your Home and on Your Property

What if a salesperson, or another passerby, falls on an icy sidewalk in front of my house?

In some places, ordinances say that landowners whose property is next to a public sidewalk are responsible for keeping the sidewalk in repair and clear of ice and snow. You might be fined in such a locality if you don't keep the sidewalk clear, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you would be found liable in a personal injury lawsuit.

Elsewhere, owners have no duty to remove natural accumulations of ice and snow that have collected on adjacent public sidewalks. However, they might be found liable for negligence if they attempt to clear the ice and snow and in fact create a more dangerous condition--as when a property owner uses hot water to melt the snow and the water later freezes into a sheet of ice. So the issue isn't so much local law as it is general principles of negligence law.