NORTHWEST, Ohio — With snow falling and icy temperatures during the winter, it could make for slippery sidewalks.
Homeowners and businesses should be getting ready to prep their walkways so people can safely walk on them.
But if someone slips and falls and gets hurt on your sidewalk, are you liable?
Let's verify. Our source is attorney Scott Ciolek.
"Anytime someone is injured, there is a potential for a negligence lawsuit," Ciolek said.
If you were to slip and fall on a city sidewalk and try to sue the city, it has immunity from cases like that.
However, for homeowners, that's a different story.
"There is a law in the City of Toledo that you have to clear your sidewalk," said Ciolek. "If your sidewalk is not shoveled, you're violating one of our criminal rules."
So yes, you can be sued by someone who slips and gets hurt on your sidewalk, but that person who fell must have been paying attention and there can be a number of factors that come into play with these cases.
"If it's obvious that there is a hazard in front of you and you weren't paying attention or looking at your phone, you're going to have a hard time winning a case like that," Ciolek said.
His advice for homeowners as the snow starts to fall and it becomes icy is to make sure your homeowner insurance is up to date, and you have you have insurance for your home that covers you for personal injury cases like this.
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