How you may be Liable if a Trespasser Slips and Falls on your Property

Anita D’Amico November 13, 2018

Many of us are home today enjoying the snow day. Some of us may shovel the
walkways or snow blow the driveway. However, with this wintery weather comes
an additional liability that many landowners do not know they owe other people.

Generally, landowners do not owe a duty to trespassers other than to avoid
“affliction of willful and wanton harm.” Still, there are exceptions to this general
rule. One exception to this rule is when there is snow or icy weather conditions.
Landowners in Pennsylvania typically have up to 24 hours or a reasonable time
period (depending on local laws) after the snow stops falling to begin to remove
it, clear it, make the property safe or provide a warning about the dangerous
conditions on the property.

A long-standing doctrine in Pennsylvania is known as the “Hills and Ridges”
Rule. A landowner may be liable for injuries caused on his property if he
unreasonably allowed ice and snow to accumulate naturally to dangerous
elevations, resulting in small, uneven hills and ridges of snow and ice. The hills
and ridges must unreasonably obstruct travel or create a danger to pedestrians
on the land. The landowner must have known or had reason to know that the
snow or ice was accumulating to such a dangerous amount. Additionally, for a
plaintiff to have a claim against a landowner, the hills and ridges of snow or ice
must have caused the plaintiff to slip and fall and cause injuries to the plaintiff.
Under this rule, landowners are not liable for injuries of another person if the
person slips and falls due to generally icy conditions, such black ice or freshly
fallen snow. Moreover, this rule only applies to natural accumulation of snow and
ice to unreasonably dangerous elevations. It does not apply if the accumulation
was caused by an artificial source.

D’Amico Law, PC is a general law firm situated in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
We offer a wide variety of services including estate planning administration,
divorce, mediation, custody, corporate law, personal injury and minor criminal
matters. If you have questions about this article or any questions regarding your
legal needs contact us at 610-444- 4555.