The Second Department, in affirming defendants’ motions for summary judgment in this slip and fall case, noted, with respect to the snow removal contractor, the failure to salt an icy area is not a ground for liability to a third party, failure to salt does not “launch an instrument of harm:”
A snow removal contractor cannot be held liable for personal injuries “on the ground that the snow removal contractor’s passive omissions constituted the launch of a force or instrument of harm, where there is no evidence that the passive conduct created or exacerbated a dangerous condition” … . For example, “a failure to apply salt would ordinarily neither create ice nor exacerbate an icy condition, as the absence of salt would merely prevent a preexisting ice condition from improving” … . Moreover, the exception for launching a force or instrument of harm “cannot be triggered where . . . there is only speculation and conjecture regarding whether the contractor created or exacerbated an icy condition” … .
Here, the plaintiff alleged that [the contractor] should have cleared snow and ice from the bank’s roof and awnings to prevent melting and refreezing such as that which allegedly caused his fall. However, such service was not encompassed by its contract. In any event, in failing to provide services beyond those included in its contract, [the contractor] at most failed to guard against a future possibility of ice formation. This is insufficient to support liability … . Somekh v Valley Natl. Bank, 2017 NY Slip Op 04487, 2nd Dept 6-7-17
NEGLIGENCE (SLIP AND FALL SNOW REMOVAL CONTRACTOR, THE SNOW REMOVAL CONTRACTOR WAS NOT LIABLE FOR PASSIVE OMISSIONS, FAILURE TO SALT ICY AREA DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE LAUNCHING OF AN INSTRUMENT OF HARM)/SLIP AND FALL (SNOW REMOVAL CONTRACTOR NOT LIABLE FOR PASSIVE OMISSIONS, FAILURE TO SALT ICY AREA DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE LAUNCHING OF AN INSTRUMENT OF HARM)/SNOW REMOVAL CONTRACTOR (SLIP AND FALL, THE SNOW REMOVAL CONTRACTOR WAS NOT LIABLE FOR PASSIVE OMISSIONS, FAILURE TO SALT ICY AREA DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE LAUNCHING OF AN INSTRUMENT OF HARM)/LAUNCH AN INSTRUMENT OF HARM (SLIP AND FALL, SNOW REMOVAL CONTRACTOR, THE SNOW REMOVAL CONTRACTOR WAS NOT LIABLE FOR PASSIVE OMISSIONS, FAILURE TO SALT ICY AREA DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE LAUNCHING OF AN INSTRUMENT OF HARM)