Whose Accountability?

[Pam]

I, too, think people are "sue happy" these days. A few years ago I fell on the ice on the sidewalk outside of my office. It had snowed and the owner of the building (not my boss....he rents) had hired some people to clear the parking lot and sidewalk and they had done a pretty terrible job. No salt had been put down and it was a sheet of ice with no safe place to step. I broke the tip of my elbow and paid for my ER visit and medication. People at my office said I should have at least submitted my out of pocket expenses (ER co-pay) to the owner of the building but I didn't bother. I do believe, however, that in most communities one is responsible if someone gets hurt on their sidewalk after a snow/ice storm. Supposedly snow must be cleared with 24 hrs. or so after it snows.

[Catlady711]

I think the whole matter of legal action would depend on the specific state/local laws which is where consulting a lawyer would help.

I know in many places (residential) that you may pay taxes to the middle of the street, however you are not responsible for clearing snow etc from the street but you ARE responsible for clearing your sidewalk in front of your home and leading up to your front door. If someone were to slip on those and you had not properly cleared them you could be legaly sued even though it's property you pay for, it still has public access. If someone cut through your yard, or went around back where it was not public access then you get into the whole 'attractive nuciance' issue.

I'm not sure where businesses fall into that catagory which is why a lawyer should be consulted for advice if nothing else.


Whether or not the stumbler should have been watching where they are going or not is a mute point where the law is concerned. In a perfect world all the walkways would be snow/ice/hole/heave free and everyone would have perfect balance and never misstep. That's just not how things work in reality. I do agree it's a sue happy society though.

[Taz_Zoee]

I have two senarios on this. One is years ago a person was walking through the parking lot at my parents business (not going into the business, mind you) and fell and broke a hip or something. I believe it was an elderly person. My parents were responsible for it. AND they only rented, they don't even own the building!!!

Several years ago I was leaving work and was talking to a family outside. As I said goodbye and turned to step from one sidewalk down to another (which is smaller than a sidewalk to the street curb) I stepped wrong and really messed up my ankle. It was the size of a softball. I don't know what I could have done "legally", but I did nothing. Besides go to the hospital and have x-rays. Over $700 later! Honestly, I didn't even think about doing anything about it. The only thing I thought of was workers comp. But I was technically off work at the time. Oh well!

But a sidewalk is different than a parking lot, I believe.

So what ever happened about this original person that tripped??