The Massachusetts Appeals Court last week decided the case of SOEDERBERG vs. CONCORD GREENE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION & another. In that case, the Plaintiff was injured while walking from a walkway to a parking lot as she was trying to get to her car parked in the parking lot. Both the walkway and the parking lot had been cleared of snow and ice, but, the area between had not been cleared. The Plaintiff fell in frozen slush in that spot and was seriously injured.
The Appeals Court reversed the Superior Court Judge and held that if an unnatural accumulation is proven by an injury victim, the fact that the danger was open and obvious does not relieve a property owner from liability.
This is a victory and development that helps those who have the misfortune of falling on unnatural accumulations of snow and ice in Massachusetts.