Does salting during a storm create liability in New Jersey?
Not by itself. In Gallardo v. Walmart, decided July 30, 2026, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a contractor salting during an ongoing storm did not create the unusual circumstances that would make the owner liable before the storm ended.
Before Gallardo, injured people often argued that mid-storm salting made a surface more dangerous and so triggered the first exception to the ongoing storm rule. The decision, by a 4-3 vote, narrows that argument: ordinary storm work is not, alone, the problem.
It does not remove the second exception. A hazard that existed before the storm, like old ice left from a previous event, can still create a duty during the storm.
This is general information, not legal advice.
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Sources
- Gallardo v. Walmart, A-65-24 (N.J. July 30, 2026)
- Pareja v. Princeton International Properties, 246 N.J. 546 (2021)
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From JRW Services LLC, commercial snow and ice management across Sussex, Passaic, Bergen, Morris and Warren counties, NJ. All answers
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