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1. Are property owners liable for injuries resulting from a failure to remove snow or ice from a sidewalk?

No. Although a municipality can, by ordinance, require property owners to remove snow and ice from sidewalks abutting their property, the owner of premises abutting a municipal sidewalk are not responsible to individual for injuries that result from the failure to remove snow or ice from the sidewalk. The long-standing rule in Wisconsin is that maintenance of a municipal sidewalk is a non-delegable duty and therefore, the municipality rather than the landowner is responsible for injuries caused by traveling on a snowy or icy municipal walk. However, municipalities are afforded some protection by Wisconsin Statute Section 81.15, which prohibits an action for damages for injuries sustained because of a natural snow or ice accumulation unless the accumulation existed for three weeks.

If a resident fails to remove snow and ice as required by ordinance, that resident is subject to a forfeiture if the ordinance imposes one, and the municipality can perform the work itself and charge the property owner for the removal as a special charge under Wisconsin Statute Section 66.0627.