Appeals court: Parking lot counts as highway

MADISON (AP) -- Public parking lots are considered highways when it comes to a municipality's liability for injuries under state law, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The case is the first in Wisconsin to ask a court to extend to public parking lots liability protections granted to municipalities for claims involving highways, according to the 2nd District Court of Appeals' opinion and attorneys in the case.

The appeals court affirmed a decision to dismiss a woman's lawsuit against the city of Manitowoc. Cheryl Ellerman had sued the city after she slipped on the ice in a public parking lot in March 2001 and broke her ankle, claiming the city should have removed the ice.

The city argued it was immune to Ellerman's claims because the parking lot is a highway. Under state statutes, municipalities have three weeks to remove ice and snow accumulations from highways and are immune from damage claims during that time.

Ellerman testified in a deposition that she didn't remember the ice being there two days before she fell.

"We have a duty to maintain structures traveled on by the public. There's no doubt about it," city attorney and personnel director Jim Wyss said. "But that duty shouldn't be unreasonable or unmanageable."

Ellerman's attorney, Ralph Sczygelski, said he was disappointed the judges interpreted state statutes so liberally.

"In my opinion, highway means what you usually consider a highway, a road," he said. "There's been an expansion of this beyond what the statute says."

The appeals court ruled that a highway is defined as any public way and thoroughfare open to the public for vehicular travel, including a parking lot.

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Appeals court: Parking lot counts as highway

MADISON (AP) -- Public parking lots are considered highways when it comes to a municipality's liability for injuries under state law, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.