It's all about the timing.

Up against the state's "Ongoing Storm Doctrine," which holds that parties can't bring slip-and-fall claims during snowstorms except for a few exceptions, plaintiffs attorney Peter Bowman went looking for one of those exceptions with the help of state meteorologist Bob Cox.

And he found it, helping to clinch a $95,000 settlement on March 18 with the help of attorney-colleague Erandi Reiland.

There had been a snowstorm, but it had happened long before his client's tumble, argued Bowman, a partner with Cheshire-based Billings, Barrett & Bowman. He said the meteorologist "gave us the timing of the storm."

"There was no precipitation for at least 13 hours before my client fell," he said. "And so we felt that was sufficient to overcome the state's Ongoing Storm Doctrine."

Bowman argued that the owners of a restaurant parking lot where plaintiff Jeanne Kehoe fell on black ice had enough time to clear away the snow and ice.

The defendants were the restaurant and its owners, Helmer Wolf and Arturo Guerra. Their counsel were Simsbury-based Litchfield Cavo attorneys Richard Lord Jr. and Jacqueline Maulucci. Neither attorney responded to a request for comment Friday.

But in court pleadings, the defense argued comparative negligence, claiming Kehoe "failed to be watchful of her surroundings and general conditions."

Kehoe fell in the parking lot of the South Windsor restaurant The Mill on the River in December 2016. The 63-year-old Cigna analyst and East Hartford resident fell and landed on her left wrist and side, her attorney said. She underwent left-wrist surgery five days after the fall.

"Overnight, that snow turned into ice and we had classic black ice," Bowman said. "The holidays are a busy time of the year for that restaurant, and management relied on employees to park in the lot and report on any ice. They didn't have a company or contractor monitoring it for them."

According to the September 2018 lawsuit filed in Hartford Superior Court, the defendant restaurant allegedly "allowed its agents, contractors, servants and/or employees to leave snow piles on the sidewalk and parking lot that, when melting, would result in water run off into the parking lot which would refreeze, creating hazardous conditions for pedestrians."

The case settled after a four-hour session with mediator Herbert Shepardson, of Hartford-based Cooney, Scully and Dowling.

Bowman said his initial demand was for $236,000, while the defense's first offer was $25,000.

"Given the issues regarding comparative negligence, we believe the $95,000 was a fair amount," Bowman said, adding the case would likely have presented an obstacle for attorneys in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine, where snowstorms are common. "A slip-and-fall in New England is a very challenging case, as New Englanders are used to walking on snow and ice. Juries sometimes are skeptical of those claims."

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