DEBRA GOTTSLEBEN, ET AL. VS. CHRISTOPHER ANNESE, ET AL. (L-1436-22, MORRIS COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)

Summary

In this premises liability appeal, the plaintiff sought to extend the rule that imposes sidewalk maintenance duties on commercial property owners to a residential property that was vacant and undergoing renovations. The Appellate Division declined to expand the scope of such liability.

The plaintiff alternatively argued that the homeowner’s common law immunity for sidewalk conditions should not apply because the defendants allegedly made the walkway more hazardous by negligently removing snow. The court found no factual support for this theory. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, there was no genuine dispute that the defendants had not worsened the sidewalk’s condition before the fall.

Key to the court’s reasoning was that the photographs on which the plaintiff relied were taken well after the incident and following another snowstorm, which, according to weather data, deposited approximately 3.5 additional inches of snow. This intervening event undermined any claim that the images reflected the condition at the time of the accident.

Held: The trial court’s grant of summary judgment was affirmed. The defendants, as residential property owners, were not liable under commercial sidewalk standards, and the plaintiff failed to present evidence that they created or aggravated a hazardous condition.