Where snow and ice maintenance responsibility is fully delegated from commercial landlord to tenant under a lease, commercial landowner is shielded from slip-and-fall liability as a matter of law.

The plaintiff fell on black ice in a parking lot leased by private owners to the Borough of Caldwell. The written lease between the landowners and the Borough expressly delegated to the Borough the responsibility to clear the premises of ice and snow. The court found the property owners were entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law based on Shields v. Ramslee Motors, 240 N.J. 479 (2020). In Shields, the Supreme Court concluded that the duty to remove snow and ice could be lawfully delegated by the landlord to a tenant in their lease. As the court clearly found the duty to remove snow and ice was delegated to the Borough here, the property owners could not be liable to the plaintiff as a matter of law. This case supports a motion for summary judgment on behalf of property-owner defendants where the tenant assumes full contractual responsibility for maintenance.

_{Case Law Alerts, 3rd Quarter, July 2020 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2020 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}