Montgomery County Settlement at Mediation: $128,000.00:

I am pleased to report the settlement of a premises liability matter which was pending in Montgomery County. Plaintiff, a lovely woman, was checking out of a hotel in the early morning hours following a significant snowstorm which had produced three (3) to six (6) inches of snow in the previous two (2) days. The snow had stopped at approximately 11:00 pm, just a few hours before Plaintiff fell. The testimony and evidence confirmed no efforts had yet been undertaken by the hotel to clear snow and ice from the sidewalk or parking; there had been no plowing, shoveling, or salting of the premises. Plaintiff sustained injury to her neck and subsequently underwent an anterior cervical decompression and fusion surgery which fortunately resolved all of her symptoms. Due in no small part to the evidence of general snowy conditions at the time of the fall, coupled with a local ordinance which did not require property owners to clear snow and ice until twenty-four (24) hours had passed since the snow ended, Pennsylvania’s “Hill’s & Ridges Doctrine” was very much an issue, potentially precluding any recovery for the Plaintiff. The Parties ultimately arrived at a very fair, amicable settlement.