New Jersey Snow Removal Law for Snow Contractors

Where the Sidewalk Duty Came From

New Jersey's sidewalk rule did not start as a snow case. In Stewart v. 104 Wallace Street, Inc., 87 N.J. 146 (1981), the Supreme Court held that commercial landowners must keep abutting sidewalks in reasonably good condition and are liable to pedestrians hurt by their negligent failure to do so. That sidewalk was dilapidated, and a footnote left ice and snow undecided.

Mirza v. Filmore Corp., 92 N.J. 390 (1983), decided it: maintaining the public sidewalk abutting a commercial property includes "removal or reduction of the hazard of snow and ice," judged by what a reasonably prudent person would do. The duty arises after actual or constructive notice, with a reasonable time to act. The goal is a walk in "reasonably safe condition," which is why treatment, not just plowing, counts.

Stewart expected that "appropriate insurance will become available" and that its cost would be a cost of doing business. Owners buy that insurance, and through their contracts they push much of the risk onto the contractor they hire.

One number gets misquoted. N.J.S.A. 40:65-12 lets a town require owners or tenants to clear abutting sidewalks within twelve hours of daylight. That authorizes local ordinances; it is not a statewide deadline, and Mirza called the period only "some indication" of a reasonable time.

Residential Property and the Income Test

Luchejko v. City of Hoboken, 207 N.J. 191 (decided July 27, 2011), held that a 104-unit condominium building, overwhelmingly owner-occupied, was residential and owed no duty for ice on its abutting public sidewalk. The dividing line is whether a property's predominant use "has the capacity to generate income," whether or not it turns a profit. Rental apartment buildings count as commercial. For owner-occupied two- and three-family houses, the Appellate Division set a case-by-case factor test in Grijalba v. Floro, 431 N.J. Super. 57 (App. Div. 2013).

Two limits on that exemption matter to you. First, it covers public sidewalks only. In Qian v. Toll Brothers, 223 N.J. 124 (2015), the Court held that a homeowners' association must keep its own private walkways reasonably safe under ordinary premises-liability law. That covers the private walks, roads and lots an HOA hires you to clear. Second, Model Civil Jury Charge 5.20B says a residential owner who clears the public walk is liable if the negligent clearing "adds a new element of danger or hazard." On a residential route, the exposure theory is that you made it worse.

Apartment owners carry a regulatory duty too: the state's multiple-dwelling rules list icy conditions and uncleared snow on walks, driveways and parking lots among the hazards the premises must be kept free of (N.J.A.C. 5:10-6.4(a)). That is one reason landlords ask plow vendors for indemnity.

The Ongoing Storm Rule

In Pareja v. Princeton International Properties, 246 N.J. 546 (decided June 10, 2021), the Supreme Court adopted the ongoing storm rule. Commercial landowners do not have "the absolute duty, and the impossible burden," to keep their sidewalks free of snow and ice during a storm. Absent unusual circumstances, the duty arises "within a reasonable time after the storm." The decision reversed a published 2020 Appellate Division opinion that had rejected the rule, so older articles saying New Jersey has no ongoing storm rule are out of date.

The Court named two exceptions:

• Conduct that increases the risk. An owner can be liable if its own actions create unusual circumstances that make conditions more dangerous for pedestrians and invitees.
• A pre-existing risk. An owner can be liable for a hazard that was there before the storm, including snow or ice left from an earlier storm that has since ended.

The second exception is the back-to-back storm problem: untreated ice from Tuesday's storm is still Tuesday's ice when Thursday's storm starts. Pareja also left juries free to decide when the storm ended and whether the ice came from an earlier one. Your service log and weather records answer those questions.

Gallardo v. Walmart (2026): Decided and Left Open

On July 30, 2026, a 4-3 Supreme Court decided Gallardo v. Walmart (A-65-24). A shopper fell in Walmart's Union Township lot about two hours into a January 2015 storm, with a trace to 0.1 inch down. Walmart's contractor, Land Pros of New Jersey, had salted the lots and walks from 12:35 to 1:15 p.m. A jury found Walmart negligent. The Court held that salting that minimal accumulation did not give rise to "unusual circumstances" creating a duty mid-storm, and ordered judgment for Walmart. Otherwise, the majority wrote, "the exception would defeat the purpose of the ongoing storm rule."

Read it narrowly. The Court did not reach whether an owner can be liable for its contractor's conduct, because the trial court had found Land Pros not negligent and dismissed it. The majority applied Pareja to a parking lot because both sides agreed it governed; three dissenters argued Pareja is a sidewalk rule. So whether the ongoing storm rule covers private lots is not settled at the Supreme Court. Gallardo is a one-vote decision on thin facts, and it does not mean a plow contractor can't be liable during a storm.

The Court also asked the Committee on Model Civil Jury Charges to align Model Civil Jury Charge 5.20B with Pareja's language. On November 4, 2026, the posted charge still showed its January 2025 revision.

Where Snow Contractors Stand

We found no published New Jersey opinion squarely deciding the duty a snow contractor owes to people on its client's property. The cases do show a pattern: the owner's defenses are not the contractor's.

In Moore v. Schering Plough, 328 N.J. Super. 300 (App. Div. 2000), the one published contractor opinion we found, a guard fell during a seven-hour snowfall. The Appellate Division reversed summary judgment for both the owner and its contractor and noted that the owner's indemnity and contract claims against the contractor could revive. With the reach of its contract in dispute, the contractor stayed in the case.

Unpublished Appellate Division decisions, which are not binding precedent, have gone both ways on whether a contract limits a contractor's duty. Gonzalez v. Eastern Freightways (A-0288-09, May 5, 2010) said the duty to an injured worker was not defined by the contract; Lewinter v. Poet's Square Associates (A-3683-08, Dec. 3, 2009) held it ran only as far as the contract's 24-hour re-salting window. After Pareja, two more unpublished decisions applied the ongoing storm rule to snow contractors: Hanna v. Woodland Community Ass'n (A-0277-21, Nov. 17, 2022) and Sarro v. Vonage Holdings Corp. (A-1392-21, Mar. 20, 2023).

Where you pile snow matters too. In Michel v. Langel (A-4054-18, May 8, 2020), another unpublished decision, an arbitrator put 15 percent of the fault on a shopping center's plow contractor where snow piles allegedly blocked a driver's view before she struck a pedestrian.

Plowing for a Town, County or the State

Public entities have protections you don't. N.J.S.A. 59:4-7 says neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable for an injury "caused solely by the effect on the use of streets and highways of weather conditions." Miehl v. Darpino, 53 N.J. 49 (1968), created a common-law immunity for public snow removal, and Rochinsky v. State, Dep't of Transportation, 110 N.J. 399 (1988), held that the Tort Claims Act did not abrogate it.

Those protections belong to the entity. The Tort Claims Act defines "employee" to exclude an independent contractor (N.J.S.A. 59:1-3), and Rochinsky analyzed immunity for DOT alone, not the contractors who worked the storm with it. In O'Connell v. N.J. Sports & Exposition Authority, 337 N.J. Super. 122 (App. Div. 2001), the public authority was immune for a fall on snow and ice in the stands, while summary judgment for its private tenant was reversed. We found no New Jersey decision extending a town's snow-removal immunity to a private plow contractor, so carry the limits the spec requires. See public snow contracts.

Statewide Statutes Aimed at Plow Trucks

The Anti-Snow Dumping Act, N.J.S.A. 39:4-77.3 (P.L.2011, c.110, approved August 18, 2011), applies in every town. The commercial operator of a snowplow or other snow removal equipment clearing snow on private property "shall not deposit, or cause to be deposited," that snow on any public road, street or highway or on public lands. The fine is $250 for a first offense and $500 for each later one. The statute names the commercial operator, which means you, not the property owner.

N.J.S.A. 39:4-77.1 requires drivers to clear snow and ice from their vehicles, including the cab of a truck and the top of a trailer, with a $25 to $75 fine even if nothing comes off. When snow or ice dislodged from a moving vehicle strikes another vehicle or a pedestrian and causes injury or property damage, the operator, owner, lessee or bailee of a commercial motor vehicle faces $500 to $1,500 per offense.

One more lands on your clients. Under N.J.S.A. 39:4-207.9, whoever owns or controls a parking area open to the public must clear snow or ice blocking accessible spaces and curb cuts within 24 hours after the weather ends, or pay $500 to $1,000 per obstructed space. Your contract should say who clears them.

Town Clear-By Clocks

Sidewalk deadlines are set town by town. Here are eight. Several also bar moving private-property snow into the street, and Morristown's code names plowing.

Two cautions. Jersey City's own documents disagree on commercial overnight timing and path width (the City's current guidance says 48 inches), so check the code before you promise a clear-by time. And in the unpublished Lewinter decision, the panel read one town's ordinance as binding the owner, occupant or tenant, not the snow contractor. Your contract can make the town's clock your clock anyway.

Snow Plow Licensing: State Versus Town

We found no New Jersey state license, registration or certification for snow plowing. The state's License & Certification Guide lists none (searched November 4, 2026). Some towns license plow contractors themselves:

• Fort Lee (Code Ch. 258) licenses "snowplowing contractors," including those applying "chemical devices" to driveways and parking lots. Every contractor vehicle must display the permit sticker. Businesses required to register under the state Contractors' Registration Act are exempt.
• Hackensack (Code Ch. 94) licenses commercial snow removal businesses and issues each vehicle a hang tag on proof of state registration and insurance.
• Mount Arlington (Code Ch. 138) requires contractors on its borough snow-removal list to carry $1,000,000 in public liability and $100,000 in property damage coverage, shown by certificate.

If you also do home improvement work, you may be registered under the Contractors' Registration Act, which requires $500,000 per occurrence in general liability (N.J.S.A. 56:8-142(a)). No state source we found says plowing alone triggers that registration, or that it doesn't.

Pending in Trenton: S2061 and A3694

S2061 and its Assembly twin A3694 were introduced on January 13, 2026 and referred to committee. They are pending bills, not law. As introduced, they would create a voluntary Department of Environmental Protection training and registration program for commercial deicer applicators, and shield a registered applicator from liability for snow and ice hazards on private property it maintained using the trained methods. The shield would not reach unregistered applicators, reckless, wanton or intentional misconduct, or a failure to use the trained methods. Separately, bills to void snow-contract indemnity clauses died in committee in three sessions; see our snow contract insurance checklist.

What This Means for Your Insurance

• Your log is your defense. Pareja leaves when the storm ended, and whose ice it was, to the jury. Time-stamped service records answer both.
• Your general liability has to cover snow and ice work, including the fall after you leave. See general liability for snow contractors and our guide to snow exclusions on landscaper policies.
• The truck is an auto. Damage from a truck-mounted plow usually starts on the commercial auto policy.
• Contracts move the owner's risk to you. Indemnity and additional insured wording decide whose policy answers. See contracts and certificates.
• Public work carries no borrowed immunity. Carry the spec's limits, with an umbrella where it asks for one.

Coverage depends on the policy's actual forms and endorsements. Send us your declarations pages and one client contract, and we'll show you where you stand before the next storm.