Since the New Jersey Supreme Court decision in Stewart v. 104 Wallace St., 87 N.J. 146 (1981), commercial property owners have owed a duty to maintain the sidewalks abutting their property in a safe condition, just as they must anywhere else on their premises. Then and ever since, the court has not addressed whether a similar duty exists as to residential property owners but instead, has implored the New Jersey Legislature to do so. It has been 43 years since Stewart was decided, and the Legislature still has not addressed the issue as it pertains to residential properties.
Presently, residential property owners are effectively immunized from liability for pedestrian sidewalk injuries because the law says that they owe no duty to maintain their sidewalks in a safe condition if they did not create the sidewalk defect. Meanwhile, New Jersey’s municipalities often also avoid liability by passing ordinances that make homeowners responsible for maintaining their adjacent sidewalks or arguing they had no actual or constructive notice of the defect.
