Section 13.45 Removal of Ice and Snow From Common Areas

• Library: Tort Law 2016

2. (§13.45) Removal of Ice and Snow From Common Areas

Generally, in the absence of a statute or agreement, a landlord has no duty to the tenant to remove from the roof, steps, or walkways any snow or ice that naturally accumulated on them, and the landlord is not liable for injuries caused thereby (known as the Massachusetts rule). Woodley v. Bush, 272 S.W.2d 833 (Mo. App. E.D. 1954). In Root v. Henry, 395 S.W.2d 280 (Mo. App. E.D. 1965), the plaintiff brought suit against her landlord for injuries that she sustained when she slipped and fell on ice on the sidewalk leading to her apartment building. Recognizing the general rule of nonliability, the plaintiff presented her case on the theory that, because the landlord had attempted to abate the icy condition by spreading salt on some steps but had failed to salt the steps near her door, the landlord created a deceptive situation that led her to believe that all of the steps had been salted. In rejecting this theory, the Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals held that when the landlord merely attempted to lessen a hazard connected with a general natural condition, common to the entire area, the extension of liability to the landlord would, in effect, make him a guarantor of the safety of...