Snow & Ice Injury Attorney Serving Rhode Island & Massachusetts

Legal Guidance for Winter-Related Injuries

New England winters create dangerous conditions that property owners have a responsibility to manage. Black ice in a parking lot. An uncleared sidewalk in front of a commercial building. Refrozen meltwater at a building entrance that formed overnight and was never treated. These aren’t acts of nature that anyone has to simply accept, they’re hazards that property owners and managers are responsible for identifying and addressing. When someone falls on an icy or snow-covered surface and suffers serious injuries because a property owner failed to maintain safe conditions, Rhode Island and Massachusetts law provides a path to accountability. At Corrao & Robles Law, attorney Amanda L. Corrao represents individuals injured in snow and ice-related falls throughout both states.

How Do Snow and Ice Injury Claims Work?

Property Owner Duties, the Natural Accumulation Debate, and What Has Changed

Snow and ice injury law in New England has evolved in ways that are significant for injured individuals. Historically, some courts applied a “natural accumulation” rule, under which property owners were not liable for falls on snow or ice that had accumulated naturally from a storm. Rhode Island and Massachusetts have largely moved away from a blanket natural accumulation defense. Today, property owners in both states owe a duty of reasonable care in addressing snow and ice hazards on their premises, including those that resulted from natural weather events, within a reasonable time after the hazardous condition forms or becomes known.

What “reasonable time” means depends on the circumstances. A property owner who fails to clear a main walkway for 48 hours after a snowstorm has ended is in a different position than one whose maintenance crew is out salting within two hours of a storm’s conclusion. A commercial property with high foot traffic has a stronger obligation to act quickly than a private residence with limited visitors. A landlord managing an apartment building has obligations to maintain common areas, including entryways, parking lots, and exterior walkways, that residential tenants cannot simply waive away through lease terms.

The timing question in snow and ice cases is always contested. Property owners and their insurers will argue that the storm was still active when the fall occurred, that the hazard had just formed, or that conditions were too dangerous for maintenance crews to safely treat the area at the time of the fall. These arguments require factual investigation: weather data from National Weather Service stations covering the specific location at the specific time, maintenance logs showing when crews were deployed and what was done, witness accounts from others who used the same path before the fall, and any prior complaints about the condition of the specific area.

Black ice is its own challenge. Invisible by definition, it often forms in patterns related to drainage, shade exposure, and foot traffic, and is frequently known to the property owner as a recurring problem in specific locations even when it can’t be seen on the day of the fall. Prior incident reports, maintenance records reflecting repeated treatment of the same area, and tenant or employee complaints can all establish that the property owner knew black ice was a chronic hazard there, regardless of what the surface looked like the day someone fell.

Contractors and Third-Party Snow Removal Liability

Many commercial and residential properties in Rhode Island and Massachusetts contract with third-party snow removal companies. When a contractor fails to adequately clear or treat a surface and someone falls, both the property owner and the contractor may be liable. Contracts between owners and removal companies often attempt to indemnify the owner, but those provisions don’t eliminate the injured person’s rights against either party. Identifying the contractor, obtaining their contract and service logs, and assessing their work on the day of the fall are all part of a complete snow and ice investigation.

How We Can Help After a Snow or Ice Injury

Evidence in these cases has to be gathered quickly and includes time-sensitive weather data.

  • Preserving surveillance footage from the property before retention periods expire
  • Gathering weather data for the specific location at the specific time of the fall
  • Identifying all potentially liable parties, including property owners, managers, and snow removal contractors

Building Your Snow and Ice Injury Claim

  • Photographing the fall location and surrounding conditions as soon after the incident as possible
  • Documenting the hazardous condition, including ice, packed snow, refrozen meltwater, inadequate sand or salt application
  • Requesting preservation of surveillance footage from the property covering the hours before and after the fall
  • Obtaining National Weather Service data for the area to document storm timing, precipitation type, and temperatures
  • Pulling maintenance logs, snow removal contracts, and service records for the property
  • Identifying and interviewing witnesses including other visitors, employees, or tenants
  • Requesting prior incident reports to establish the owner’s knowledge of recurring hazards
  • Collecting all medical records from emergency care through ongoing treatment
  • Retaining liability experts where building code violations or industry maintenance standards are relevant

What to Expect: The Snow and Ice Injury Claim Process

Rapid Evidence Gathering:

Snow and ice conditions change. Surveillance footage gets overwritten. Weather data needs to be captured from National Weather Service archives. We act quickly after being retained to lock in the evidence that matters most before it disappears.

Liability Analysis:

We establish the property owner’s duty, the breach, and the link between the hazardous condition and your fall. Timing is at the center of this analysis — when did the storm end, how long had the hazard existed, what did the owner do and when did they do it?

Injury Documentation:

Snow and ice falls produce predictable patterns of serious injury: hip fractures are common, particularly in older individuals. Wrist fractures from bracing a fall. Shoulder injuries. Knee injuries. Spinal injuries from direct impact. Head trauma when the fall is backward. We document the full medical picture from initial treatment through long-term consequences.

Demand, Negotiation, and Litigation:

We build a demand that addresses the property owner’s liability and the full scope of your damages. When insurers don’t respond fairly — and in snow and ice cases they frequently don’t — Attorney Corrao takes cases to court in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Why Choose Corrao & Robles Law?

Weather evidence expertise:

We know how to gather and use meteorological data in these cases

Multi-party liability:

We identify every responsible party, including contractors

Both states:

Experienced in Rhode Island and Massachusetts premises liability law

Contingency representation:

No fees unless we recover

Frequently Asked Questions

The “ongoing storm” doctrine is recognized in New England. Courts have acknowledged that property owners may not be required to continuously clear surfaces during an active storm. But the doctrine has limits. If a storm ended hours before your fall and the owner had done nothing to address accumulated ice and snow, the ongoing storm argument doesn’t apply. If the hazardous condition came from drainage patterns or prior storm runoff that refroze, not the active storm, the analysis is different again. Attorney Corrao uses National Weather Service data and local weather records to establish exactly when precipitation ended and what temperatures were during the critical hours before the fall.

You don’t need to name the specific mechanism, but you do need evidence connecting the fall to a hazardous property condition. Photographs taken shortly after the fall are the strongest evidence. Witness accounts from others who noticed the condition before you fell are valuable. Maintenance records showing no treatment had been applied to the area are relevant. Surveillance footage can sometimes capture the fall itself. If you were disoriented after the accident and couldn’t document the scene immediately, getting back as quickly as possible matters. Attorney Corrao works with investigators and clients to reconstruct the evidentiary picture when post-fall documentation is incomplete.

Hip fractures are among the most serious outcomes, particularly for individuals over 60. A fall on ice can produce a fracture requiring surgical repair, sometimes hip replacement, with recovery measured in months. Wrist fractures from bracing a fall can require surgery and leave lasting impairment. Backward falls produce compression fractures, herniated discs, and spinal injuries. Falls onto the back of the head produce concussions and, in severe cases, traumatic brain injuries. Shoulder injuries, including rotator cuff and labral tears, are common when a person reaches out to break the fall. Attorney Corrao builds every case around the full medical picture from the start.

Three years from the date of the fall is the general statute of limitations in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Claims against municipalities may have notice requirements as short as 60 days in Rhode Island. Missing a government notice deadline bars the claim against that entity entirely. Even within the three-year window, acting quickly matters for evidence preservation. Attorney Corrao reviews the applicable timeline for every case at the outset.

Yes. A contractor who fails to adequately clear or treat a surface, missing a hazardous area, applying inadequate salt or sand, or creating a new hazard through improper plowing, may be independently liable for resulting injuries. The property owner may also remain liable because delegating snow removal doesn’t fully discharge the duty to maintain safe premises. Both parties can be named as defendants. Attorney Corrao investigates the role of snow removal contractors in every case where a third-party vendor was involved.

Talk to a Snow and Ice Injury Attorney

Serious injuries from icy surfaces are preventable when property owners do their jobs. If you fell on an improperly maintained surface in Rhode Island or Massachusetts this winter, Corrao & Robles Law is ready to investigate and pursue fair compensation.

Contact us today for a free consultation.