Parking lots across Tulsa remained covered in snow and ice all week, and that may have been by design.
The snow finally started melting away Thursday afternoon, but it was a small consolation for those navigating perilous parking lots all week. It turns out, businesses have an incentive not to make their parking lots safer.
Wintry parking lots can be a real danger. Tulsa police said ice caused a pickup truck to fall off the top floor of a parking garage.
“Private property owners are responsible for their own maintenance,” the City of Tulsa told NewsChannel 8 in a statement.
Tulsa attorney Kent Morlan said city snow plows can’t cover private lots as a result.
“The common law of Oklahoma is that the property owner has no duty to remove naturally-accumulating snow and ice from his own property, including parking lots,” he said.
State law says a business is only responsible for an injury if the victim doesn’t know about the hazard.
“If the invitee sees the hazard and falls, then the invitee is contributorily negligent, or at fault, even though it was a hazard and the property owner knew of the hazard,” Morlan explained. “An invitee that comes on the property is well aware that there’s snow and ice on the ground. They assume the risk if they get out of their car and try to get into the store.”
NewsChannel 8 asked if black ice could be something of a gray area, since it’s a hazard which can’t easily be seen.
“Well, it could be,” Morlan said. “Yeah, sure, but then you get back to the idea that if the property owner undertakes to remove the snow and ice, they must do it in a non-negligent manner.”
He said the only way a business is at fault for a slippery parking lot is if they try to remove the snow and ice but accidentally make it more dangerous.
“The last real case on the subject in Oklahoma is called Wood v. Mercedes-Benz of Oklahoma City and, in that particular instance, it was cold, and Mercedes-Benz let its sprinkler run, and it basically coated the parking lot with ice," Morlan explained. "Well, that was a condition created by the owner rather than by nature. So one of the reasons a lot of property owners don’t endeavor to remove snow and ice from their parking lot is the risk of becoming potentially liable for doing so. If they leave it alone, they’re not liable. If they mess with it, and do so in a negligent fashion, they could potentially become liable.”
Morlan said Tulsa already has a city ordinance requiring businesses to clear off their sidewalks within 24 hours of a snowfall. This makes things safer for pedestrians, and a similar move could make things safer for drivers.
“You could pass a city ordinance requiring that parking lots like that have to be cleared within 24 hours, just like the sidewalk,” he said. “Now, I’m sure that would be challenged. Does the city have the power to extend that out off the public sidewalk and onto the adjacent property?”
NewsChannel 8 asked the Tulsa Fire Department if parking lots have been a significant source of danger this week. A spokesperson said they only keep track of the total number of accidents, not where each accident occurred.