[Vision2020] SIDEWALKS

[Chasuk]

On 12/7/05, Tom Hansen <idahotom at hotmail.com> wrote:
> As much as I understand Chasuk's views and agree that no legal
> responsibility exists on the part of the property owner to maintain a safe
> passage on a public easement or sidewalk, it is always the good samaritan
> that goes that extra mile for his/her community.

You are right, of course.  As I indicated previously, I am not really
the type of curmudgeon who would prevent a member of the public from
using his sidewalk.  The point that I had intended to make, which I
realize now I failed utterly in accomplishing, concerns the question
of legal liability and niceties.  If you slip and fall on property to
which I have (graciously) allowed access, wouldn't it be mean-spirited
to sue me?

The law is peculiar.  This may be apocryphal, but I know that I have
read of a burglar who injured himself when falling into an uncovered
crawlspace DURING THE COURSE OF A BURGLARY and was able to
successfully sue the occupants.

My only objection is to the appropriateness of  a lawsuit in this
situation (i.e., failure to maintain a "safe passage on a public
easement"), not the propriety of keeping one's sidewalk clear of snow.