Case Study #3 for Operational Forecasting Services

John Doe vs. Jane Doe

John Doe, a resident of Doe’s Apartments, located in Legaltown, Illinois, sued Jane Doe, the landlady of the aforementioned property, for compensatory and punitive damages as a result of injuries sustained by John Doe when he slipped and fell on the porch to his apartment building, due to ice, on February 29, 2003. John Doe contends that the landlady is at fault because she did not maintain safe entry to his rented apartment unit.

John Doe engaged a Weather Command forensic meteorologist as an expert witness in this case. He was asked to make a visit to the accident site and review the weather data on the days preceding and including February 29, 2003. The accident occurred at 3:30 p.m. and the entryway to the apartment unit is located on the west side of the building. The defendant, Jane Doe, is arguing that there could not have been any ice on the entryway because the high temperature reported at the airport, 5 miles away was 43 degrees.

Weather Command’s forensic meteorologist examined the hour by hour weather observations from the nearby airport for February 28th and 29th, and radar images from the NWS radar located 100 miles to the southwest. The following facts were determined:

1. The temperature at 8 a.m. on the 29th was 43 degrees.
2. The temperature fell to 32 degrees at 1 p.m.
3. At 3 p.m. the temperature was 28 degrees.
4. The archived radar images from 12 p.m. through 3:27 p.m. on February 29th indicated local precipitation over the accident location.
5. From 12:35 p.m. through 3:08 p.m. the observations from the airport reported light freezing drizzle.
6. The airport reported a westerly wind throughout the afternoon of the 29th.
7. There was no cover over the entryway.

Based on this evidence, at the deposition Weather Command’s meteorologist testified that in his professional judgment there was ice on the entryway caused by freezing drizzle. The defendants settled out of court immediately, without going to trial.