S’no Day Off?
Feb 01, 2011
3 Comments
Dealing with winter in Boston requires a zen-like acceptance. It’s going to snow, it’s going to be freezing cold, it’s going to be miserable…and, more likely than not, we’re going to have class anyway. Many of you, as renters, might have the luxury of a landlord who hires folks to plow or shovel. Even if you don’t, you may decide to take the day off and stay inside on a warm comfortable couch watching re-runs of Judge Judy. However, according to the recent Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling in Papadopoulos v. Target Corp., if you are a property owner in Massachusetts, you do not have this privilege. Prior to this ruling, it was perfectly acceptable to sit on your butt and, mailman and old ladies be damned, wait for the snow to melt or shovel when you were good and ready. Property owners could possibly escape liability by arguing that the poor unfortunate souls who broke their hips when they slipped on the owner’s unpaved sidewalk did so because of a “natural accumulation” and not through any fault of the owner. A property owner did not violate their duty of care by failing to remove a “natural accumulation” of snow and ice from their property. In fact, prior to this ruling, shoveling may have actually increased one’s potential for liability because the snow that was moved would not have been considered a “natural accumulation.” After Papadopoulos, however, this is no longer the case. According to the court, Massachusetts law now “appl[ies] to hazards arising from snow and ice the same obligation that a property owner owes to lawful visitors as to all other hazards: a duty to ‘act as a reasonable person under all of the circumstances including the likelihood of injury to others, the probable seriousness of such injuries, and the burden of reducing or avoiding the risk.’” Perhaps removing this distinction between “natural” and “unnatural” accumulations makes sense. It’s certainly a good thing to incentivize property owners to make clear paths for pedestrians and visitors…
Property owners keep this in mind as we weather this next round of storms. Hopefully we will get one of those delightful 3 a.m. texts informing us of a snow day and you can stay inside. The charm of a beautiful snowfall is starting to wear off on me. What are your thoughts? How are you (especially you transplants from warmer climes) holding up this winter?
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Definitely the worst of the three winters I’ve spent in Boston.
And I can understand not having a snow day, but this morning was a bit ridiculous. To cancel two weeks ago and not today makes little sense.
Once you’re a 3L though, you learn to just declare your own snow days and not bother going.
When the National Weather Service describes the morning commute as “treacherous” and freezing rain is predicted throughout the day, class needs to be canceled.
This could be much more than inconvenient — it has the potential to be quite dangerous.
The Law School needs to stop being under the same emergency system at the undergrads. People drive to BC Law; no one is driving to the undergrad campus.
The last two days were terrible. Even BU had off yesterday. Professors were individually canceling class, but they wait until an hour before, and confusion is everywhere.
This system, like the PR grading fiasco, is a joke.