A condo resident can file a lawsuit after he slipped on snow and ice while taking out his trash, according to the state Appeals Court. After a 16-inch snowfall, a landscaping company hired by the condo association plowed out the area. However, it plowed a large pile of snow up against the dumpster. The resident attempted to make his way through the snow in order to dispose of his garbage. He slipped and fractured his wrist, and missed five months of work as a lithographer.

He sued the condo association, the property manager and the landscaper. He claimed he had previously complained about the danger caused by the company’s method of snowplowing. The court said that while “snow falls in Massachusetts” and “it is no person’s fault,” this case was different because the resident didn’t slip on a natural accumulation of snow, but rather on an unnatural and arguably dangerous pile left by the landscaper.