"Judge, shovel your sidewalk or I'll sue!"

Supreme Judicial Court homes: slippery slope
Despite ruling, walkways unclear
By Laurel J. Sweet
Thursday, December 30, 2010

Award-winning court and crime reporter Laurel J. Sweet has been featured in the ABC miniseries "Boston 24/7" and the 9-11 documentary motion picture "Looking For My Brother."

Untouched: The front walkway of Supreme Judicial Court Justice Robert Cordys' home covered in a thick blanket of snow.

Uphill Climb: A steep set of stairs at Supreme Judicial Court Justice Margot Botford's residence is covered in several inches of now from the weekend blizzard.

Almost: the front steps of Supreme Judicial Court Justice Judith Cowin's home appear somewhat cleared of snow. All Clear: Attorney Emmanuel Papanickolas stands in the clear walkway of his Peabody law office.

Facing the first test of their controversial slip-and-sue snow-removal ruling, three of the state’s seven high court justices yesterday flunked the Herald’s spot inspection of the sidewalks, paths and stairs at their own homes.

“Careful you don’t slip and fall,” Supreme Judicial Court Justice Judith A. Cowin cautioned a wobbly visitor negotiating the snow-packed driveway leading to the snowy front steps of her Tudor manse.

Cowin, 68, groaned, then laughed when told the Herald snow patrol was there to rule on her blizzard busting techniques.

“We plowed, we put down salt. We’re doing the best we can,” said Cowin. “I was trying to take some time off this week.”

The driveway was down to wet pavement at the suburban home of Justice Robert J. Cordy, but the walkway and stairs were buried under snow and any attempt to reach the front door would have ended in a search party dispatched to find us. It looked as though the judge’s postman had resorted to kicking a trail to the mailbox. Cordy, 61, did not respond to requests for comment.

A shovel was planted in snow outside Justice Margot Botsford’s house — and the sidewalks were clear enough. But one steep staircase to the judge’s door and mailbox hadn’t been touched and a second required scaling a foot-wide trail carved out of deep white crust. Worse yet, melting snow was streaming down above the entryway, threatening to freeze into black ice.

Botsford, 63, refused to respond to several requests for comment.

Yet we could have eaten off the sidewalk in front of the Peabody Square law offices of Emmanuel Papanickolas.

Nicknamed “The Ice Man,” Papapnickolas persuaded the SJC last summer that the Target store at Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers was in the wrong when his handicapped client tripped on a chunk of ice in the parking lot in December 2002 and shattered his pelvis.

Ruling last July in favor of the client, Emanuel Papadopoulos, the SJC found that property owners must exercise “reasonable care” to prevent injuries by removing snow and ice from their walkways.

“It makes sense — common sense. That’s what’s lacking in society today. It just takes a little effort. Public safety — that’s what it’s all about,” said Papanickolas, who keeps a shovel, three snow blowers and buckets of sand and salt within easy reach at his office.

Sadly, Papadopoulos died in October before the state saw its first flakes of lawsuit-looming snow. He was 84 and “extremely happy,” Papanickolas said.

Yesterday, most justices avoided the slippery slope of the law by scrupulously shoveling their suburban walkways.

Justice Ralph D. Gants, 56, was out Tuesday digging out from the Blizzard of 2010 and yesterday reminded his wife, Deborah Ramirez, to pick up ice melt, she said.

“If we didn’t do it, I don’t know what else you can do,” Ramirez said, when told the couple had earned a gold star.

“He’s his own Jiminy Cricket — his own conscience,” she said of her husband. “As a justice you ask yourself, what’s the right thing to do?”