Kernan v. One Washington Park Urban Renewal Associates

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

GARIBALDI, J.

The central question in this appeal is whether a commercial landowner in bankruptcy, who is judicially precluded from engaging in the management and control of its property by the court appointment of a trustee and managing agent, owes a duty to third persons to maintain an abutting public sidewalk in a reasonably safe condition.

I

Following a severe snowstorm on January 17,1994, Rita Kernan (“plaintiff’) slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk abutting a commercial office building in Newark. Although the sidewalk had been sprinkled with pellets…