Court Opinion

ID: 9689325
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:27:55.841218+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:47.015417
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(specially concurring).
A fair reading of the trial testimony reveals credible evidence that there existed a jury question as to whether there was an unnatural or artificial accumulation of ice and snow on the sidewalk. Testimony introduced by the appellant reveals a dripping of water from an overhang onto the sidewalk and a freezing of this accumulation. Moreover, and most importantly, the neighbor of appellee testified that from December of 1976 through February of 1977 there was a failure to shovel the sidewalk, save for occasional scoops of snow by the steps, and no precautions were taken to avert injury such as ashes, sand, gravel, or salt being placed on the sidewalk at the situs of the freezing. This same witness testified that he informed appellee’s employees of this condition and that something should be placed on the sidewalk because it was dangerous. It appears that this advice went unheeded. The enterprise which attempted to attract business was known as Stewarts Hairstylists and it was this enterprise which invited the appellant onto its property. When appellant and her daughter left Stewarts, her feet went out from under her and she fell, ultimately incurring approximately $15,000 in medical expenses and alleged permanent injury. Snow covered the compacted ice where appellant fell. As I review this file, I see no contributory negligence or assumption of the risk shown at the time of trial. Therefore, the trial court erred in granting the appellee’s motion for a directed verdict at the close of the evidence for the reason that the appellant introduced evidence (if believed by the jury) of an unnatural and artificial accumulation of snow and ice on the sidewalk in front of the appellee’s property, thereby causing the slip and fall of the appellant. For a slip and fall case involving ice, a hairstyling salon, and a reversal on a directed verdict against the injured plaintiff, see Maxwell v. Lewis, 186 Neb. 722, 186 N.W.2d 119 (1971).
Authority for the rule that actionable negligence may be predicated on the cre*857ation of an unnatural or artificial accumulation of snow or ice by an owner or tenant of a building may be found in the annotation at 95 A.L.R.3d 15 (1979), Injuries in Connection with Ice or Snow and also 18 A.L.R.3d 428 (1968), Abutting Owner’s Liability for Injury from Ice Formed on Sidewalk by Discharge of Precipitation Due to Artificial Conditions on Premises. So, in our decision in this case, we are not exactly plowing virgin ground. It is old law but it is still good law that you cannot use your property to the detriment of another. In Longberg v. H.L. Green Company, 15 Wis.2d 505, 113 N.W.2d 129 (1962), a dentist and a property owner were sued for personal injuries caused by water flowing from the dentist’s office and then freezing into ice on the sidewalk in the entrance way. Held, the dentist was not relieved of liability on the ground that he breached no duty of care to the pedestrian. In the instant case, appellant was a business invitee and not just a passerby pedestrian.
It is true that the enterpriser or occupier of the premises is not an insurer of the safety as regards the general public. For, in the case of Johanson v. Nash Finch Company, 216 N.W.2d 271, 276 (N.D.1974), the North Dakota Supreme Court quoted with approval (and it makes sense) the following statement found in Prosser, Law of Torts, 4th Edition, § 61 at pages 392-393:
“The occupier is not an insurer of the safety of invitees, and his duty is only to exercise reasonable care for their protection. But the obligation of reasonable care is a full one, applicable in all respects, and extending to everything that threatens the invitee with an unreasonable risk of harm. The occupier must not only use care not to injure the visitor by negligent activities, and warn him of latent dangers of • which the occupier knows, but he must also inspect the premises to discover possible dangerous conditions of which he does not know, and take reasonable precautions to protect the invitee from dangers which are forseeable from the arrangement or use. The obligation extends to the original construction of the premises, where it results in a dangerous condition. The fact that the premises are open to the public must be taken into account, and will call for greater care than in the case of a visitor at a private home.” *
The reason that I quote Johanson is because it drew strength from Clark v. Stoudt, cited in the majority opinion. However, although Clark blessed the old common law principles, it did say:
If the abutting owner discharged water or snow upon the sidewalk or permitted it to drip from his roof onto the sidewalk, we would have a different situation, but where the accumulation comes from natural causes the primary duty is upon the municipality which may by ordinance call upon the owners to assist it in the discharge of its municipal duties. (Emphasis supplied mine.)
Clark, 73 N.D. at 172, 12 N.W.2d at 711. Perhaps more on point, as regards the case at bar, than any other is the 1972 North Dakota Supreme Court case of Strandness v. Montgomery Ward, cited by the majority opinion, but which cited the forerunner, Clark. Factually, our decision here involves an “overhang”; Strandness mentioned a “canopy”. After quoting from Clark, North Dakota’s Supreme Court in Strandness expressed:
An exception to the general rule is that the abutting property owner or occupant who constructs or maintains upon his property a canopy in such a manner as to cause an artificial discharge and accumulation of water upon the sidewalk, which, when frozen, makes the use of the sidewalk dangerous, will be held liable to one who, being rightfully upon the sidewalk, is injured in consequence of such dangerous condition.
*858Strandness, 199 N.W.2d at 691. Appellants are entitled to have a jury decide the question of negligence.
A municipal corporation is charged with the duty of keeping its streets and sidewalks in a reasonably safe condition. McCleod v. Tri-State Milling Co., 71 S.D. 362, 24 N.W.2d 485 (1946). In 1961, this Court in Rapid City v. First National Bank of the Black Hills (Rapid City), cited in footnote 3 of the majority opinion, reiterated the general principle that a-municipality is charged with the affirmative duty of keeping its sidewalks in a reasonably safe condition for public travel and is liable for injuries caused by its neglect. In our 1961 expression, we indicated that:
Conversely, as there is no common law duty resting upon the owner or occupant of land abutting upon a public walk to keep or maintain the same in repair there is no corresponding liability to the general public except when such owner or occupant creates or maintains an excavation or other artificial condition on the sidewalk which causes or contributes to an injury. Kimball v. City of Sioux Falls, 71 S.D. 35, 20 N.W.2d 873 [1945], (Emphasis supplied mine.)
Rapid City, 79 S.D. at 40, 107 N.W.2d at 694. Because SDC 45.1605, now SDCL 9-46-2, went beyond the usual statutory provisions found in other states, this Court was constrained to honor the specifics of that statute which provided, essentially, that the abutting owner was secondarily liable to the municipality for damages caused by the owner’s failure to repair. Liability for damages thereunder would ultimately shift to the abutting lot owner. Did South Dakota therefore make an inroad upon the common law rule? Yes, in my opinion, and by the passage of the statute which was interpreted and honored by the 1961 Court. There is no doubt that statutes requiring abutting landowners to construct and repair sidewalks and rebuild them, if necessary, have been enacted to assess the cost against the owners rather than have the municipality defray the costs. Interpretation of these statutes reveals by overwhelming authority that this does not impose liability upon the abutting landowner either to the pedestrians or to the municipality for injuries caused by a defective sidewalk. However, our state cut into the common law rule in 1961. The majority would not now abrogate the common law rule; neither would I. However, rules have exceptions and I would watch for them as did this Court in 1961. In my book, the 1961 decision was sound. Additionally, statutes in derogation of common law are to be liberally construed with a view to effect the objects of the statute and to promote justice. The old rule of the ■common law that statutes in derogation of the common law are to be strictly construed has no application in this state. See SDCL 2-14-12.

 See also, Wolf v. Graber, 303 N.W.2d 364, 368 (S.D.1981), for liability of store owner to business invitee for harm caused on the premises (not on the sidewalk) of an 86-year-old woman falling down steps from rear entrance into the store and who had no apparent actual or constructive knowledge of dangerous condition.