Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
- Property Owners Have a Duty of Care
- Natural Versus Unnatural Accumulations
- Who Can Be Held Responsible
- What Is the Ongoing Storm Doctrine?
- What to Do Immediately After a Winter Fall
Winter conditions create hazards that send people to the emergency room every year. Icy parking lots, snow-covered walkways, and refrozen meltwater on front stoops are facts of life between December and March. What is less obvious is who bears legal responsibility when someone gets hurt.
The answer depends on where the slip and fall happened, who controlled that property, and what they did or failed to do after the storm. Connecticut law is specific about each of those questions.
Property Owners Have a Duty of Care
Connecticut premises liability law requires property owners to keep their premises in a reasonably safe condition for visitors. That obligation does not pause for winter. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-557a, property owners owe their highest duty of care to invitees, which includes customers at a business, tenants at a rental property, and guests who are invited onto someone's premises. When snow and ice create a hazard, the owner is responsible for addressing it within a reasonable time.
That duty also extends to sidewalks. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-163a, Connecticut municipalities may transfer liability for public sidewalks to the owners of abutting properties. Many towns in the greater New Haven area have adopted ordinances doing exactly that. A property owner who is responsible for the sidewalk in front of their building and fails to clear it after a storm can be held liable for injuries that result.
Natural Versus Unnatural Accumulations
Connecticut law draws a distinction between natural and unnatural accumulations of ice and snow. A natural accumulation is what you would expect after a storm: snow that fell and stayed where it landed, or ice that formed from precipitation. An unnatural accumulation is one that was created or worsened by human action.
A drainage system that channels meltwater onto a walking path, a roof overhang that drops snowmelt onto stairs below, or a plow that pushes snow into a pedestrian area and creates a melt-refreeze hazard: these are unnatural accumulations. Property owners have a harder time defending these claims because the dangerous condition was not just the result of weather. It was the result of a decision someone made.
Who Can Be Held Responsible
- The property owner is the most common defendant in a winter slip and fall case. A grocery store, a restaurant, an apartment complex, or any other property that invites visitors has a duty to keep walkways, entrances, and parking areas reasonably clear after a storm.
- A tenant or business with control of the premises can also bear responsibility, even if they do not own the building. Legal title is not what matters. What matters is who had possession and control over the area where the fall occurred. A business that manages its own entrance and parking lot has taken on the responsibility to maintain those areas safely.
- A snow removal contractor hired to service the property is a third potential source of liability. When a contractor performs their work negligently and someone is injured as a result, the injured person may have a claim against the contractor, the property owner, or both.
- A municipality can bear responsibility in limited circumstances, typically where the fall occurred on government-owned property or where a government agency created the hazardous condition through its own actions.
What Is the Ongoing Storm Doctrine?
One of the most important rules in Connecticut winter slip and fall law is the ongoing storm doctrine, established by the Connecticut Supreme Court in Kraus v. Newton, 211 Conn. 191 (1989). Under this doctrine, a property owner is generally not required to remove snow or ice while a storm is actively in progress, because that would be unreasonable.
What the doctrine does not do is protect property owners indefinitely. Once the storm ends, the owner must — within a reasonable time — clear hazards from walkways, parking lots, stairs, and any other areas where visitors are expected to travel. What counts as reasonable depends on the circumstances, including the severity of the storm and the size of the property.
What to Do Immediately After a Winter Fall
The steps you take in the minutes and hours after a fall can make a significant difference to your claim.
- Stay at the scene and document the condition. Photograph the exact spot where you fell, including the ice or snow, any signage or lack of it, and the surrounding area. Winter conditions change fast. What caused your fall may be sanded, shoveled, or melted by the time anyone comes back to look.
- Report the fall. Tell a manager, property owner, or building staff what happened and ask for a written incident report. That record documents what the owner knew at the time and prevents them from later claiming no fall occurred.
- Collect witness information. If anyone saw the fall or the condition that caused it, get their name and contact information before they leave.
- Seek medical attention promptly. Even if your injuries seem minor, see a doctor as soon as possible. Some injuries are not immediately apparent. A prompt medical record also connects your injuries to the fall before that connection can be questioned.
- Preserve your footwear. Do not wash or discard the shoes or boots you were wearing. They can become relevant evidence if the other side argues your footwear contributed to the fall.
How Action Law Group Helps Winter Slip & Fall Victims in East Haven
At Action Law Group, we know how quickly conditions change after a winter fall and how fast insurance companies move to close claims. Here is what our team does for you:
- Investigate the scene immediately by gathering photographs, surveillance footage, weather records, and incident reports before evidence disappears
- Identify every party that bears responsibility, including property owners, tenants, snow removal contractors, and municipalities where applicable
- Handle all communications and negotiations with the property owner's insurer so you are not pressured into a settlement.
- Build a complete picture of your damages, including medical expenses, future care costs, lost wages, and the impact the injury has had on your quality of life
- Take your case to trial if a fair settlement cannot be reached, because we are trial lawyers and we do not back down
Action Law Group offers free consultations and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We work on contingency, which means you pay nothing unless we recover for you. Our office is located in East Haven, and we represent clients throughout the greater New Haven area. If you were hurt in a winter slip and fall, call us today at (203) 800-3000 or contact us online.
Related Reading
Winter creates hazards on foot and behind the wheel. For more on staying safe this winter, you may also want to read: