This is a question often answered by local legal experts.
As winter deepens with snowfall and cold temperatures in Ohio, homeowners will be out and shoveling snow throughout the warmer months.
But if you don’t clear snow and/or ice from your sidewalk, are you liable if someone slips, falls and gets hurt?
No, Ohio property owners are not liable for injuries that occur on snow and ice covered sidewalks.
Depending on where you live, there may be an ordinance requiring the property owner to remove snow and ice.
“This is a huge and enduring question in the state of Ohio, where ice and snow are obviously very common,” said Sarah Cole, the Michael E. Moritz Chair in Alternative Dispute Resolution at Ohio State University. “You may be surprised to learn that homeowners actually have no duty to clear sidewalks of natural accumulations of snow and ice.”
Winter accumulation of snow and ice is considered an open and obvious hazard, Cole said.
“And the Ohio Supreme Court has routinely held that landowners and, indeed, even business owners do not have a duty to remove snow from sidewalks,” he said.
So, if someone gets hurt on your sidewalk, are you responsible?
“In terms of tort law, or personal injury law, there is no liability to that landowner unless you have made that natural accumulation more dangerous through your behavior. Like let’s say if water was leaking out of your house and onto your front walkway, and so the sidewalk was much icier than someone walking on that sidewalk expected,” Cole explained.
The city or town you live in may have its own guidance or regulations for property owners.
In Columbus, city code requires home and business owners to clear sidewalks.
And in Delaware – an ordinance prohibits property owners or occupants from allowing snow and ice to accumulate “so as to cause a nuisance to the public.”
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