If Winter Comes, Shoveling Can't be Far Behind

For those of us that vividly recall the massive sheet of hardened snow that blanketed our lawns and public spaces for almost four months last year, the winter of 2011-12 has been a reminder of how fickle New England weather can be.

It is Jan. 3, and still we have not had anything resembling a major snowstorm all
winter. Area golf courses are open. Joggers are on the streets preparing for this April's Boston Marathon. This past Sunday, New England Patriots fans tailgated before and after the game in shirt sleeves.

Of course, we will get a snowstorm eventually, and when it comes, it will behoove us all to remember that in Massachusetts, a property owner owes the public a duty to exercise reasonable care in removing snow and ice from stairs and walkways.

It was not always this way.

Prior to 2010, the well-settled law in our state was that a property owner had no
obligation to remove "natural accumulations of snow and ice." If you owned a home, and you woke up to two feet of snow on the ground, you could stay in bed and not worry that the paper boy would sue you if he fell while walking up the stairs.

Since New Englanders are all on notice just how dangerous snow and ice can be, the law reasoned, it made no sense to impose a legal burden on property owners to remove the dangerous condition. We traveled the streets and walkways at our own risk.

In 2010, however, a decision of the state Supreme Judicial Court changed everything.

In Papadopoulas v. Target Corporation, the Court threw out the hundred-year and rule and held that a property owner must keep its property reasonably safe regardless of the source of the danger. The Court rejected the idea that persons walking the streets during snow and ice emergencies are on notice of the danger.

In the words of the Court, "we now will apply to hazards arising from snow and ice the same obligation that a property owner owes to lawful visitors as to all other hazards: a duty to 'act as a reasonable person under all of the circumstances including the likelihood of injury to others, the probable seriousness of such injuries, and the burden of reducing or avoiding the risk.'"

So when the snow eventually comes, and you hear that your office has closed, don't stay in bed too long. Bundle up, grab a shovel and bag of sand or salt, and get outside.

Make a nice, smooth walkway for your visitors. Should someone come onto your
property and slip and fall, you wouldn't want a lawyer to claim later on that you failed to exercise reasonable care.

About this column: Sharon attorney Paul Izzo is a paid Sharon Patch columnist. E-mail comments about his column to paulizzolaw@comcast.net.