Written and reviewed by Peter Zneimer
You are visiting at a friend’s house and as you are walking down their front stairs, you slip and fall on ice and break your arm. Do you have a cause of action against your friend for your injuries? That is a common question that the personal injury lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. receive during winter months. The answer is: “it depends”.
In Illinois, landowners and occupiers have no common-law duty to remove natural accumulation of snow and ice from their property. Additionally, even if the landowner has made an attempt to clear ice and snow but did not clear it all, the landowner is not liable for any injuries caused by slipping and falling on that ice or snow. See the case of Murphy-Hylton v. Lieberman Management Services, Inc., 2016 IL 120394. This “natural-accumulation” rule was further codified for owners of residential units in the “Snow and Ice Removal Act” 745 ILCS 75/1 which states that the owner of a residential property who removes or attempts to remove ice and snow from his or her sidewalks shall not be liable for personal injuries caused by the icy or snowy condition.
Under this “natural accumulation” rule as applied to the icy stair scenario stated above the question becomes how did the ice get on the stairs. If there had been a freezing rain storm 20 minutes before and that is how the ice got on the stairs, then there may be no liability on the part of your friend. However, after you fall you look and you observe that the stairs have ice only where a gutter downspout empties onto the stairs. An ice mound has formed right at the spot where the water empties and the ice mound is what caused you to fall. Is there possible liability on the part of your friend under this scenario? The answer is, yes.
The water coming from a gutter downspout causing an ice mound would be considered an “unnatural” accumulation of ice. The law imposes on landowners “a duty of reasonable care to prevent unnatural accumulations of ice and snow on their premises where they have actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition” Murphy-Hylton v. Lieberman Management Services, Inc., 2016 IL 120394. An accumulation of snow or ice is “unnatural” if it “accumulated by artificial causes or in an unnatural way or by a defendant’s own use of the area concerned and creation of the condition” Id. The landowner could be found liable for your injuries since they probably had actual notice or had constructive notice that the downspout gutter was draining on the stairs and did nothing about it and someone was injured because of it.
What if the ice on the stairs was caused by a natural accumulation, does that mean there is no liability and that ends the inquiry? The answer is no. What if you were coming down the stairs and slipped on a natural accumulation of ice and you grabbed for a handrail to prevent from falling but the front stairs had no handrail. Is there possible liability? The answer is yes. A property owner has a duty to maintain their stairs in a reasonably safe condition. The Chicago building code requires stairs to have handrails. In this case, your friend could be found liable for not providing a handrail which contributed to your fall causing your broken arm.
As the above scenarios illustrate, it is important to consult with an experienced slip and fall attorney who has handled many of these types of cases. The experienced slip and fall attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. have handled many of these types of cases. We will investigate your case and explore all possible avenues of possible liability. Call today for a free consultation.