In Arashkovitch v. City of New York (2nd Dept. 12/17/14), a snow/ice slip-and-fall case, the court affirmed the denial of defendants’ motion for summary judgment.
Here is the law:
Homeowners of single-family homes that are owner-occupied, such as the appellants, are exempt from liability imposed pursuant to section 7-210(b) of the Administrative Code of the City of New York for negligent failure to remove snow and ice from the abutting public sidewalk. However, they can be held liable where they, or someone on their behalf, undertook snow and ice removal efforts which made the natural conditions more hazardous. A property owner that elects to engage in snow removal activities must act with reasonable care so as to avoid creating a hazardous condition or exacerbating a natural hazard created by a storm.
Applying the law, the court held that defendants “failed to establish their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, since … they failed to demonstrate that their snow removal efforts, which were undertaken prior to the accident, did not create or exacerbate the icy condition which allegedly caused the plaintiff to slip and fall.”