Slips and Falls on Ice and Snow - The “Hills and Ridges” Rule
Slips and falls on ice or snow can result in Negligence claims by the injured party against the owner or person in control of the property where the injury occurred. However, Pennsylvania law provides a defense for property owners called the “Hills and Ridges” Rule, which protects them from liability for injuries caused by recent snow or ice storms resulting in generally slippery conditions.
The Hills and Ridges Rule
The Hills and Ridges Rule provides that the owner or person in control of a property is not liable for slips and falls caused by generally slippery conditions resulting from recent snow or ice storms. The justification for the rule is that to require someone’s parking lots, sidewalks and roadways to always be free of ice and snow would impose an impossible burden due to Winter weather conditions. Stated another way, a property owner cannot be expected to be constantly shoveling snow and salting ice. Instead, the Rule indicates that the duty of a property owner is to act with in a reasonable time after a snowfall or ice storm to remove the snow and ice which is creating a dangerous condition. The Hills and Ridges Rule protects the property owner from generally slippery conditions from recent Winter storms UNLESS the injured party can prove that the property owner allowed the precipitation to accumulate in “hills and ridges” which caused someone to fall. The idea is that if “hills and ridges” accumulated, the snow or ice must have been there long enough for the property owner to have taken reasonable steps to remove or treat the dangerous condition.
Exceptions to the Rule
The Hills and Ridges Rule only provides limited protection to property owners. First, it only applies to natural accumulations of snow or ice. Ice patches or snow piles caused artificially - like from snow plowing, a defective gutter or downspout or a leaky faucet - are not covered by the Rule. So, if a slip and fall is caused by such a condition, the property owner cannot claim Hills and Ridges protection.
In addition, the Hills and Ridges Rule only covers generally slippery conditions. If there is an isolated patch of snow or ice, the Rule does not apply. For example, isolated patches of ice caused by melting snow piles would not be considered generally slippery conditions providing protection from liability under the Rule.
When the Hills and Ridges Rule does not apply, the injured party must prove two things in order to have a Negligence case against the property owner: (1) that the property owner knew about the dangerous condition or that it existed for long enough that he should have known about it; and (2) that the property owner failed to take reasonable steps to make the property safe - like plowing, shoveling, salting, sanding or posting warning signs.
Tim Rayne, Esquire - MacElree Harvey, Ltd. 211 E. State Street, Kennett Square, PA 19348 (610) 840-0124 trayne@macelree.com
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