Sump Pump Discharge Caused Sidewalk To Accumulate Ice, Lawsuit Claims

A man is suing two Naperville property owners over claims that he injured himself falling on their sidewalk due to icy conditions caused by sump pump discharge.

Stanley Ulaszek filed a lawsuit Jan. 12 in DuPage County Circuit Court against Michael T. and Vivian Booth alleging that they allowed the water discharged from their sump pump to accumulate on the sidewalk in front of their Naperville home and freeze.

According to the lawsuit, Ulaszek was walking his dog on Feb. 2, 2013 when he slipped on snow covered ice as a result of property owners’ negligence.

The lawsuit alleges that the property owners’ installed their sump pump is such a way that water was discharged directly down their sloped driveway where it collected at the sidewalk, resulting in an unnatural layer of ice.

The property owners also failed to remove the the ice from the sidewalk by failing to adequately monitor its condition, the complaint said.

Ulaszek is asking for damages in excess of $50,000.

Naperville attorney Mark J. Schneid is representing the case.

The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff filed in DuPage County Circuit Court. The complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt and represents only one side of the story.