If you are a homeowner, the current cycle of warm daytime and
freezing nighttime temperatures can be frustrating as you think you
need to constantly maintain sidewalks and pathways on your
property. Some days you may wonder if the hassle to mitigate the
risk to visitors and passersby slipping and falling on a patch of
ice or puddled water is worth the effort. Well, yes, it is.
Although less common than slip and fall claims against
commercial occupiers, such claims against homeowners still happen.
Courts, however, tend to recognize that homeowners are not
businesses and do not share the same resources for mitigating slip
and fall risks. With a comparably lower standard in court,
homeowners should focus less on producing maintenance logs or
documents to prove they vetted their contractor, and focus more on
proving their efforts to remedy potential slip and fall hazards
were reasonable.
