You may see this phrase in an insurance letter, a landlord's response, or a business owner's explanation after a fall: "This was a snow and ice liability claim," often followed by an argument that winter conditions were "open and obvious" or happened too fast to fix. It means legal responsibility for injuries caused by snowy, icy, slushy, or refrozen conditions on property such as parking lots, walkways, stairs, entryways, and sometimes roofs or falling ice.

At bottom, the question is whether the person or company in control of the property used reasonable care. That can include shoveling, salting, sanding, blocking off dangerous areas, fixing drainage problems, or warning people about a known hazard. These cases often turn on timing: when the storm started, when the property was last treated, whether melting and refreezing created black ice, and whether the danger had been ignored long enough that someone should have acted.

For an injury claim, this term matters because insurers often try to blame the weather instead of the property owner. Photos, weather reports, maintenance logs, witness statements, and incident reports can make or break a premises liability case. In New Hampshire, a fall may happen in fast-changing conditions, from mountain weather near I-93 in Franconia Notch to refreezing and pothole-related hazards after frost heaves. Most personal injury lawsuits are subject to New Hampshire's three-year deadline under RSA 508:4. Missing that window can end the claim.