In 2021, the New Jersey Supreme Court adopted the "ongoing storm rule" in Pareja v. Princeton International Properties, holding that commercial landowners have no duty to clear snow and ice until a reasonable time after a storm ends—unless "unusual circumstances" exist. Five years later, the Court has applied that exception for the first time in a published decision, and the result is more good news for commercial property owners.

This case arose from a slip-and-fall at a Walmart parking lot in Union Township on January 3, 2015, during a storm of mixed snow, sleet, and rain that began around 11:30 a.m. At the time of the plaintiff's fall, roughly 1:30 p.m., there was only a "trace" to one-tenth of an inch of accumulation on the lot. Walmart's snow-removal contractor had spread salt on the lot from 12:35 to 1:15 p.m. but had not pretreated the surface before the storm began. A jury found Walmart negligent and awarded the plaintiff over $1.3 million, and the Appellate Division later ordered a new trial rather than dismissal. 

On July 30, 2026, the Supreme Court reversed and directed judgment for Walmart. Under the "ongoing storm rule," a commercial landowner's duty to clear snow and ice arises within a reasonable time after a storm ends, not during the event. One of the exceptions to the ongoing storm rule, defined by the Court’s 2021 holding in Pareja v. Princeton Int’l, is where the landowner's conduct creates "unusual circumstances" that exacerbate the risk of injury. The Court in Gallardo held that ordinary, if imperfect, remediation efforts, such as salting a lot with only minimal accumulation, do not meet that "unusual circumstances" threshold, even when the plaintiff alleges that treatment made conditions worse.

Commercial landowners are not obligated to clear snow or ice mid-storm, and undertaking reasonable, ordinary de-icing measures during a storm will not, by itself, create liability. Owners should document the timing of all remediation efforts and retain contractor service records, since the absence of "unusual circumstances" was central to the outcome in this decision. 

This decision may further reduce exposure to ongoing-storm slip-and-fall claims against commercial insureds absent evidence the insured's actions were genuinely unusual or created a new hazard beyond the storm's natural effects. However, plaintiffs will likely continue to raise novel arguments regarding whether conduct exceeded ordinary snow-removal practice and how that can be subject to interpretation by different experts.