The Case of the Icy Walkway

A woman slips and falls after a big snowstorm. Is her apartment complex liable for nature’s handiwork?

THE BLIZZARD that pummeled northern Illinois and northwest Indiana on Groundhog Day in 2011 was a doozy. The National Weather Service declared it the third-worst winter storm in Chicago’s history. Outside the city, in the town of

Carol Stream, Illinois, more than 20 inches of snow fell; five days later, the snow-removal service hired by the Klein Creek Condominium Association cleared all the sidewalks at the complex. The snow had mostly melted by February 18. Pamela Murphy-hylton left her condo at 8:30 that sunny but

below-freezing morning and walked along the sidewalk behind her building toward the parking lot. Next thing she knew, she’d fallen, fracturing her leg, knee, and hip. As she waited on the ground for the paramedics, she felt ice on the sidewalk. The patch was about the size of a sheet of paper.

Four months and several surgeries later, on June 13, Murphy-hylton filed a negligence action in the Circuit Court of Cook County against the condominium association and its management company, alleging that “their negligent maintenance of the premises created an unnatural accumulation of ice, which caused her to fall.”

Three years later, on August 14, 2014, the trial court sided with the defendants and dismissed the case. Why? The owners of the complex were protected by the Illinois Snow and Ice Removal Act. The law states that property owners are not required to remove snow and ice because, basically, the weather there is too unpredictable for them to take on such an “unreasonable burden of vigilance.” While a property owner is “encouraged to clean the sidewalks,” according to the act, he or she is not liable if someone gets hurt by slipping and falling on “the snowy or icy condition.”

Nonetheless, Murphy-hylton appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Can a property owner be liable if someone slips and falls on snow or ice on the property? You be the judge.