Slipped on Ice in a Parking Lot: Who Is Responsible in Pennsylvania?

Parking lots are where most winter falls happen

Not the sidewalk out front, which gets salted because it is visible. The far corner of the lot, the strip between parked cars where plowed snow was piled and then melted across the asphalt and refroze overnight. Those cases also tend to have more than one possible defendant, which is why they are worth looking at carefully.

Who might be responsible

• The business occupying the space. A store, restaurant or medical office generally owes a duty to keep the premises reasonably safe for customers, who are business invitees — the highest duty Pennsylvania premises law recognizes.

• The property owner or landlord, where the business leases. Responsibility for common areas and lots is usually allocated by the lease, and often stays with the owner.

• The snow removal contractor. Most commercial lots are plowed under contract, and the contract sets out when the contractor must show up, at what snowfall trigger, and what it must do. A contractor that plowed a pile of snow into a spot that predictably drained and refroze across a walkway may have created the hazard.

• A management company, where one operates the property day to day.

Hills and ridges still applies

Pennsylvania’s hills and ridges doctrine can apply to parking lot falls. Where conditions are generally slippery throughout the area, an injured person typically must show that snow or ice had been permitted to accumulate in ridges or elevations unreasonably obstructing travel, that the owner knew or should have known, and that the condition caused the fall.

Two limits matter in lot cases. The doctrine is generally applied to generally slippery conditions rather than an isolated patch, and courts have recognized that it may not protect an owner where the icy condition was created by the owner’s own conduct — for instance, by drainage or by where snow was piled.

That second point is the heart of most parking lot claims.

What to document, in order of how fast it disappears

• Photographs of the ice itself, from several angles, with something for scale. Within hours if at all possible.

• Photographs of the whole lot showing where snow was piled, where it drained, and which areas were treated and which were not.

• The time, date and temperature. Then, later, the National Weather Service records for that period — freeze-thaw history frequently decides these cases.

• An incident report to the business, in writing, with a copy requested for yourself.

• Names and numbers of anyone who saw it, including any employee who says something revealing like “we’ve been meaning to get that”

• The shoes. Keep them, unwashed, in a bag.

Why moving quickly matters more here than in other cases

Snow removal records — contracts, dispatch logs, salt invoices, GPS data from plow trucks — are ordinary business records that are routinely discarded on a schedule. So is surveillance video, which many businesses overwrite in a matter of weeks.

A letter asking that those records be preserved can be sent early. It is straightforward, and it is often the difference between a provable case and a swearing contest.

Talk it through with someone local. If you have questions about your own situation, the attorneys at Joyce, Carmody & Moran can review what happened and explain your options — no cost for the first conversation, and no obligation. We are based in Pittston and handle injury matters throughout Luzerne County.