Plaintiff Sunnie Corry was walking with her husband and daughter, as well as her grandchild, who was in a stroller, on the sidewalk abutting the defendants’ home. She tripped and fell over a raised and severely broken sidewalk and, as a result, suffered a severe rotator cuff injury. In Corry v. Barbieri, 2016 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 255 (App. Div. Feb. 5, 2016), the plaintiff urged the Appellate Division to abandon the “unenlightened” standard that insulates residential landowners from liability for injuries caused by abutting sidewalks.
The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants based upon the current state of the law. On appeal, the plaintiff argued that the Appellate Division should expand the law to find residential landowners liable for a fall on an adjoining public sidewalk.
The Appellate Division noted that the law has been evolving since Stewart v. 104 Wallace Street, Inc., 87 N.J. 146 (1981), in which the Supreme Court altered the “no liability” rule by holding that commercial landowners would be responsible for maintaining in reasonably good condition the sidewalks abutting their property. However, the Court limited its holding to owners of commercial property.
More recently, in Luchejko v. City of Hoboken, 207 N.J. 191 (2011), the Court adhered to Stewart’s residential v. commercial distinction by holding that a condominium association and management company could not be held liable for injuries caused by a sidewalk abutting a residential condominium complex.
Thus, the Appellate Division noted that while the common law has evolved since Stewart, the Court’s recent opinions showed its continued adherence to a residential landowner’s immunity from liability for injuries caused by public sidewalks abutting their property. Only the Supreme Court can decide if it is time for a change. Hence, it affirmed the trial court’s order, dismissing the case.
