NH Law About ...: Snow Removal: Read New Hampshire Law ...

Researching this issue may involve local ordinances, state statutes, case law, and agency policies. Examples of each of these are below.

New Hampshire Statutes

RSA 230. State Highways
See RSA 230:81 Snow, Ice and Other Weather Hazards
RSA 231. Cities, Towns and Village District Highways
See RSA 231:92-a Snow, Ice and Other Weather Hazards
RSA 236. Highway Regulation, Protection and Control Regulations
RSA 236:20 is about snow obstruction on roads.
RSA 507-B. Bodily Injury Actions Against Governmental Units
See RSA 507-B:2-b Snow, Ice, and Other Weather Hazards.
RSA 508. Limitation of Actions
See RSA 508:22 Liability Limited for Winter Maintenance
Find it in a Library ... New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated
Find the New Hampshire statutes in print at libraries throughout the state.

New Hampshire Cases

69 N.H. 318. State v. Jackman
State v. Jackman, 69 N.H. 318 (1898) is the case so many newspaper articles refer to when they write about snow removal. It's difficult to find case law this old online, so we've scanned the print version and uploaded it.

120 N.H. 788 (1980). Rutkauskas v. Hodgins
The principal issue in this case is whether the owner of a building which redirects precipitation, thereby causing an accumulation of snow and ice on a public sidewalk immediately adjacent to the building, is strictly liable to a tenant who is injured by falling on the snow-covered sidewalk. We hold that there is no such liability.
126 N.H. 286 (1985). Ritzman v. Kashulines
On January 17, 1982, Jane L. Ritzman slipped and fell on a natural accumulation of snow on the shoulder of Main Street in Hopkinton. Mrs. Ritzman fell while walking toward the sidewalk in front of the defendants' store, The Cracker Barrel. The area where she fell is used for parking by customers of the store and has been periodically plowed by the defendants.

Mrs. Ritzman and her husband filed suit against the defendants, alleging that the defendants had a duty to maintain the parking area in a reasonably safe condition and that Mrs. Ritzman's injury was proximately caused by a breach of this duty. The Superior Court (O'Neil, J.) dismissed the suit in response to a summary judgment motion of the defendants.
Find it in a Library ... New Hampshire Reports

New Hampshire Court Orders

The two Tinker documents are final orders from the New Hampshire Supreme Court that decided the merits of Tinker's cases. They are not Supreme Court opinions. The Supreme Court publishes final orders for informational purposes, but, unlike opinions, they have no precedential value and you aren't supposed to cite them in any pleadings or rulings in any court in New Hampshire.

Until recently, final orders were not easily available. They weren't published anywhere - in print or online. You had to request a copy of a final order from the Supreme Court clerk's office. Final orders from September 2014 to the present are now available on the Supreme Court's website. For older orders, you'll still need to contact the clerk's office.

2007-0618. Tinker v. Town of Tilton
The plaintiff brought an action seeking injunctive relief that would require the Town to make the section of sidewalk at issue accessible to persons with disabilities by removing snow from it during the winter months.
2009-0012. Tinker v. Commissioner Dept. Of Transportation
[T]o the extent a sidewalk is deemed part of a “facility” that is “required to be readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities” under the ADA, the maintenance obligations of the public entity having control over the sidewalk include the reasonable removal of snow, ice or debris rendering the sidewalk inaccessible. Because, as noted above, the town concedes that 28 C.F.R. § 35.133 applies to the sidewalk at issue, the trial court did not err by concluding that the town’s maintenance obligations relative to it include the removal of snow, ice and debris. ... The refusal to remove any snow is not a reasonable limit upon the removal of snow, but is an abdication by the town of its obligation altogether.

Local Ordinances

Disclaimer

Please remember that this guide is for information purposes only and is not comprehensive. It is intended as a starting point for research, to illustrate the various sources of the law, and to provide guidance in their use. NH Law About ... is not a substitute for the services of an attorney.