CHICAGO — A woman who slipped and fell in the snowy parking lot of a mall has lost her lawsuit against the owner of the mall.
Justice Mary Anne Mason issued the decision in the Illinois First District Appellate Court on Dec. 26, with justices P. Scott Neville Jr. and Aurelia Pucinski concurring.
On Feb. 10, 2013, Robin Allen was going to an exercise class in Glenview when she allegedly fell on packed snow that had accumulated in the parking lot and broke her ankle, according to the court decision. The shopping center was owned by Alliance Investment Source LLC, which had a contract for snow removal with defendant ZL Landscaping Inc. Allen originally sued only Alliance and several others, but then amended her complaint to include ZL Landscaping Inc.
Allen’s theories of liability as discussed in the second complaint included allegations of poor design and poor maintenance.
“...[S]he alleged the design of the parking lot caused melted snow to pool and freeze in areas where customers walk," Mason wrote in the decision. "She also alleged that ZL plowed the parking lot in ways that caused unnatural accumulations of snow and ice, including ‘black ice’ in uneven, deteriorated areas of the parking lot.”
However, despite testimony from a police officer, the exercise studio owner and others, Allen failed to establish that ice was the cause of her fall, the justices said. Alliance and ZL filed motions for summary judgment, noting Allen couldn’t state she definitely fell on ice. ZL also noted in its motion that its contract with Alliance was not breached, since it had not been contracted to put down salt, and there was less than two inches of snow on the ground when Allen fell.
Experts brought in by Allen said the parking lot maintenance issues caused Allen to fall. However, the trial court granted summary judgment to both defendants in August of 2016, prompting Allen to appeal.
The appellate court noted Allen failed to prove the efforts of Alliance and ZL to clear the snow and ice were defective. Also, since Allen wasn’t positive she fell on ice, she couldn’t establish a causal link between the alleged ice and her fall.
"Although her experts opined that ZL’s snow clearing procedures would have created an unnatural accumulation of ice in the parking lot, Allen did not see whether she fell on ice, so she cannot establish a causal link between the alleged unnatural ice and her fall beyond mere speculation," Mason said in the decision. "... [T]he trial court did not err in denying Allen leave to file a third amended complaint when none of her added allegations would have enabled her to defeat summary judgment."
According to Cook County court records, Allen was represented by attorney Randall Wolff, of Arlington Heights.
ZL Landscaping was represented by attorney Phillip Bartolementi, of Chicago, and Alliance Investment was defended by attorneys with the firm of Leahy, Eisenberg & Fraenkel Ltd., of Chicago.