Snow removal / extent of home owner liabiliby?

[Mona_ralph]

What is the name of your state? Ohio



I am looking for any citations about the legal liability my husband and I have as homeowners related to snow removal and someone slipping and falling. I read in the newspaper about it being an assumed risk in my area (ie it is ohio..snow is going to fall) but husband disposed of the paper!! Does anyone know if I could find info about this that we could keep in our records in case someone falls on snowy sidewalk?

Secondly, someone is coming over and plowing my side walk. What I read (ie see my paragraph above) cited that if you DO shovel, and someone slips on the ice revealed under the snow you would be liable. But what if the homeowner is not who is doing the shoveling, It is obvious that someone went up a segment of the street. Am I now being made liable for what someone not from my family is doing during the cover of night apparently as we do not know who it is??

Lastly I will close with a gripe..I broke my leg last fall plus have MS - i rely on the small amount of snow accumulation actually for traction. Removing the snow leaves a slick icey surface to walk on, making me basically now a shut in..at 40 yrs of age! Ask before you do anything nice for a neighbor. They may NOT find it so helpfull!

 

[JRW66]

Also interested

I am not sueing or being sued...but I definitely am very curious about this alleged law.

I also am from Ohio, and I have heard the same thing about being liable once the snow is removed.

Personally, I think this is a legal excuse to be lazy, but doesn't it cause a legal contradiction? If the public works clears the street but doesn't effectively clear the ice, I am sure I wouldn't be able to sue the city if I lost traction on the ice whereas I would have had better traction on the packed snow.

about 9 years ago I was driving on a road that had been partially cleared by the road crews. (in another state) While on a patch of Ice that had not been cleared a strong gust of wind blew me off the road and into a ditch where I ended up upside down. (yes it was a very powerful wind) Since the Road crews had not effectively cleared the road it was declared a "not at fault" accident.

I personally think that if you show an effort to make your walk safe, you should not be held liable.

But that's my personal opinion...