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In this case, a woman was visiting her daughter's apartment in February. There were piles of snow and for the previous three or four days the piles had been melting during the day and re-freezing in patches on sidewalks and parking areas during the night and early morning hours. The landlord had been informed of these conditions.

The woman didn't notice any ice or melting water anywhere along the way from her car to her daughter's apartment that afternoon, but when she left after midnight ice had formed. The woman didn't see any ice, but slipped and fell on a patch of ice when she reached her car, injuring herself.

The woman sued her daughter's landlord. The landlord moved for summary judgment, arguing it owed the woman no duty. The trial court granted that motion.

On appeal, the Court held that a landlord could owe a duty to a tenant's invitee if the landlord had actual or constructive knowledge of a dangerous condition on the property and had time to fix the condition. The Court did not require that this knowledge be "of the actual formation of the ice patch Bell slipped upon" and that the history of ice formation and tenant complaints was sufficient to establish constructive knowledge of the danger, at least for summary judgment purposes.

While the Court's decision is clearly supportable by prior opinions, the Court could have issued a much more narrow opinion. Its decision, therefore, appears to be a broad application of the summary judgment standard. Parties opposing a motion for summary judgment should keep this decision in mind when describing why there are genuine issues of material fact.

Brad A. Catlin
Price Waicukauski & Riley, LLC
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