MSZL&M Maryland Office Secures Order Granting Motion for Summary Judgment in Fall on Ice.

(May, 2019), Maryland Managing Partner, George Bogris and Aman Aulakh obtained summary judgment in a claim against a snow removal contractor. Plaintiff fell in a parking lot as she exited her car to go to work. She slipped just as she exited the vehicle and struck her back on the door frame. Plaintiff was injured in March 2015 and never returned to work. Plaintiff has undergone a surgical procedure to her back and multiple injection treatments. Medicals and lost wages were over $250,000.00 with an as yet unarticulated amount of lost future wages.

In defense of the claim it was argued that plaintiff had assumed the risk of her injury given her knowledge of the conditions and the inherent danger of slipping on ice. In response to that argument, plaintiff claimed that she slipped on black ice which often thwarts the entry of summary judgment on assumption of risk. In further defense of the claim, MSZL&M argued that there was no evidence of the defendant having acted unreasonably in the manner in which they performed their services; i.e., no evidence of negligence. Finally, MSZL&M argued that plaintiff required the testimony of an expert on snow and ice removal because the standard of care for commercial snow and ice removal on a large commercial property (over 17 acres) is not something within the knowledge of an average juror.

Following a hearing, the court granted the motion for summary judgment on two grounds: The absence of any evidence demonstrating that the defendant had performed its services negligently and assumption of risk.