Remember that property owners must clear snow or ice from walkways on their property

You can be sued for the following:

  • Failure to clear a walkway, sidewalk or parking lot in a timely manner.
  • Clearing only part of a sidewalk.
  • Doing a poor job in clearing snow and ice (ie leaving behind icy patches).
  • Failing to salt where ice forms.
  • Failing to fix a defect (ie broken, leaking pipe) that causes ice to form, and then failing to remove the ice.
  • Failing to clear black ice.

*Note: Property owners must clear snow or ice from walkways on their property or on adjacent sidewalks during a “reasonable” amount of time after a storm. As a guideline, § 16-123 of the New York City Administrative Code requires property owners to clear snow and ice from sidewalks and public walkways in front of their property four hours after a storm ceases, and until 11:00 a.m. when the storm occurs overnight.