Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani Partner Michael V. Slivjak and Associate Deanne J. Lowden obtained summary judgment on all claims against the firm’s client, a snow removal contractor, in Union County, New Jersey.
The plaintiff, a commercial truck driver, allegedly slipped and fell in the parking lot of his employer’s warehouse after a major overnight snowstorm. The plaintiff testified that his employer had directed him to relocate trucks at the end of his overnight shift. The plaintiff acknowledged that he was aware of the snowy and icy conditions as he walked through the premises and observed workers actively operating a skid-steer, shoveling snow, and spreading materials from a wheelbarrow across the parking lot surface.
Despite the plaintiff’s attempts to raise factual disputes concerning the timing of the storm’s cessation and the sufficiency of the defendant’s cleanup efforts, Slivjak and Lowden successfully advanced the application of New Jersey’s Ongoing Storm Doctrine in the context of an independent contractor engaged by the owner or occupier of commercial property.
After oral arguments, the court agreed, commenting that no rational jury could have found an unreasonable delay in clearing the snow, and noted that the plaintiff failed to demonstrate how the defendant placed him in a zone of danger or otherwise increased his risk of injury.