A defendant property owner who moves for summary judgment has the initial burden of making a prima facie showing that it neither created the allegedly dangerous or defective condition nor had actual or constructive notice of it. This burden may be established by presenting evidence that there was a storm in progress when the injured plaintiff allegedly slipped and fell.
Under the storm in progress doctrine, a landowner will not be held liable in negligence for a plaintiff's injuries sustained as the result of an icy condition occurring during an ongoing storm or for a reasonable time thereafter. A lull in the storm does not impose a duty to remove the accumulation of snow or ice before the storm ceases in its entirety. However, even if a storm is ongoing, once a property owner elects to remove snow or ice, it must do so with reasonable care or it could be held liable for creating a hazardous condition or exacerbating a natural hazard created by the storm. The failure to remove all the snow and ice, without more, does not establish that the defendant increased the risk of harm.
Archie v. Cunningham Assoc., L.P., NY Slip Op 03772 (2d Dep't June 17, 2026)
