Rhode Island Premises Liability Law Update, featuring discussion of liability of abutting landowner for injuries occurring on public sidewalk.

1. Rhode Island
Premises Liability Law Update
Nicole J. Benjamin, Esquire
nbenjamin@apslaw.com
Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C.
One Citizens Plaza, 8th Floor
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 274-7200
www.RIAppeals.com
Copyright 2013, Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C. · Attorney Advertising.

2. Property owners must exercise
reasonable care for the safety of all
persons reasonably expected to be upon
their premises.
They must protect against the risks of
(1) known dangerous conditions on their
property and
(2) dangerous conditions the property
owner in the exercise of reasonable care
would have discovered.
Image courtesy of Toa55 of
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Rationale: Property owners have the
right and obligation to control their
premises.
Liability of Property Owner for Injury
Occurring on His/Her Own Property

3. Property owners owe no duty of
care to unknown trespassers.
Upon discovering a trespasser in a
position of danger, property
owners must refrain from wanton
and willful conduct.
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FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Liability of Property Owner for Injury Occurring to
a Trespasser on His/Her Own Property

4. Berman v. Sitrin,
991 A.2d 1038, 1047 (R.I. 2010)
“It is a well-established legal principle in this jurisdiction, as well as
others, that a landowner whose property abuts a public way has no
duty to repair or maintain it.”

5. Abutting property owner
has no duty to repair or
maintain public way.
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FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Liability of Abutting Property Owner for
Injury Occurring in Public Way

6. Wyso v. Full Moon Tide, LLC,
78 A.3d 747 (R.I. 2013)
• Plaintiff, while vacationing on Block
Island, tripped and fell on a cracked
and uneven section of a public
sidewalk.
•Plaintiff filed suit against the abutting
property owner and the lessor of the
abutting property.
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FreeDigitalPhotos.net

7. Wyso v. Full Moon Tide, LLC,
78 A.3d 747 (R.I. 2013)
• Plaintiff alleged:
(1) Defendants had failed to inspect,
repair and maintain the sidewalk and
(2) Defendants had a duty to warn
Plaintiff of the dangerous condition.
•Plaintiff claimed that a municipal
ordinance requiring repair of
sidewalks gave rise to a duty of care.
•Summary judgment entered in favor
of Defendants.
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FreeDigitalPhotos.net

8. Wyso v. Full Moon Tide, LLC,
78 A.3d 747 (R.I. 2013)
• Held: Neither property owners nor
lessees of real property owe a duty of
care to those who are injured on an
abutting sidewalk.
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FreeDigitalPhotos.net

9. Wyso v. Full Moon Tide, LLC,
78 A.3d 747 (R.I. 2013)
• There is “a significant amount of our
jurisprudence providing that a
property owner owes no duty to
individuals for the condition of public
sidewalks when the property owner
has taken no action to create a
dangerous condition.”
Image courtesy of artur84 at
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

10. Wyso v. Full Moon Tide, LLC,
78 A.3d 747 (R.I. 2013)
• Rationale: The public sidewalk was
not within Defendants’ control or
possession.
Image courtesy of artur84 at
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

11. Wyso v. Full Moon Tide, LLC,
78 A.3d 747 (R.I. 2013)
• Duty of care does not arise from a
municipal ordinance that requires
landowners to maintain and repair
abutting sidewalks because the
municipal ordinance was intended to
benefit the municipality and not
individuals.
Image courtesy of artur84 at
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

12. Saunders v. Howard Realty Co.,
371 A.2d 274 (R.I. 1977)
A property owner has no obligation to repair a defective sidewalk
when there is no evidence that the property owner is the cause of
the defect.

13. Abutting property owner
not liable unless
(1) he has created the
dangerous condition
(2) there is a municipal
ordinance designed to
protect those who
traverse the sidewalk.
Image courtesy of Toa55 of
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Liability of Abutting Property Owner for
Injury Occurring on Sidewalk

14. For an electronic version of this presentation and
more on Rhode Island appellate law, please visit:
www.RIAppeals.com