If someone falls on your sidewalk, are you responsible? New Jersey law says that it depends on what kind of owner you are. If you are a residential homeowner of a one or two family home in which you reside, then you are not liable. But please note that you should always carry liability insurance just in case.
For non-owner occupied residential rental properties as well as apartment buildings, the owner is liable to maintain the abutting sidewalk in a reasonably safe condition and will be liable to pedestrians who are injured due to the owner’s negligence.
If you own a condominium, then the condo association may be responsible for the condition of the sidewalk as a common area, and carries insurance for that purpose.
If it is a business property, then you are responsible to maintain the sidewalk in front of your premises and will be liable for negligence in that regard. Commercial landowners are responsible for maintaining in reasonably good condition the sidewalks abutting their property and are liable to pedestrians injured as a result of their negligent failure to do so.
However, what if the business property is a vacant lot? Historically the business owner of a vacant lot in New Jersey was not liable for personal injury occurring on an abutting sidewalk. The rationale was that the owner was not realizing any income from its ownership of that lot and therefore should not be responsible for sidewalk accidents.
Yet, that all recently changed when the New Jersey Supreme Court considered the case of Padilla v. Young II, and ruled in a divided decision that “all commercial landowners—including owners of vacant commercial lots—have a duty to maintain the public sidewalks abutting their property in reasonably good condition and are liable to pedestrians injured as a result of their negligent failure to do so”. Thus the concept of a shopkeeper sweeping the sidewalk every day or shoveling snow to allow her customers to access her store has been expanded to include liability for any kind of commercial property, whether or not that property generates income or is salable. This will burden the business property owner to ensure that the sidewalk is safely maintained although that owner would otherwise be unlikely to go there on a daily basis.
Of course, the owner would be protected by liability insurance to the extent that it is available. If not, we have the experience to defend you against such claims.
We represent landlords. Please do not hesitate to contact us in the event of an accident on your property.
