PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 24-1102

LOIS ANN BROWN,

Plaintiff – Appellant,

v.

WAL-MART STORES EAST, LP,

Defendant – Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Lynchburg. Robert S. Ballou, District Judge. (6:23-cv-00006-RSB-JCH)

Argued: December 12, 2024 Decided: June 4, 2025

Before HARRIS, RICHARDSON, and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges

Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Judge Richardson wrote the opinion, in which Judge Harris and Judge Quattlebaum joined.

ARGUED: Allen David Hawkins, I, OVERBEY, HAWKINS, WRIGHT & VANCE, PLLC, Rustburg, Virginia, for Appellant. Victor S. Skaff, III, GLENN ROBINSON CATHEY SKAFF & WHITE PLC, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Chad A. Mooney, PLDR LAW, PC, Lynchburg, Virginia, for Appellant. USCA4 Appeal: 24-1102 Doc: 38 Filed: 06/04/2025 Pg: 2 of 18

RICHARDSON, Circuit Judge:

Ice and snow can be slippery. Everyone knows that. Lois Brown knows that all too

well. That’s why, after a snowstorm, Virginia requires businesses to protect their

customers by using reasonable care in removing ice and snow from their outdoor premises.

But how much care was enough for reasonable care the morning after the snowstorm in

Lynchburg, Virginia on January 27, 2021? And did the Wal-Mart on Old Forest Road use

reasonable care the morning Lois Brown slipped and fell in its parking lot? These are hard

questions. These are fact-intensive, detail-sensitive, circumstance-specific questions. In

other words, these are jury questions. So we vacate the district court’s grant of summary

judgment for Wal-Mart and remand the case for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Facts

A snowstorm entered the Lynchburg area the night of January 27, 2021. Snowfall

began around 11:00 PM and lasted through, at the latest, 6:15 AM the next morning. It

was a light storm, with no more than 2.5 inches of snow coming down overnight. As the

snow began to fall, temperatures around Lynchburg were slightly above freezing, hovering

around 32–34 degrees Fahrenheit. But by the time the snowfall ceased, temperatures had

declined below freezing, around 29 degrees.

At 8:30 AM on January 28, the plaintiff Lois Ann Brown pulled her truck into the

parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Lynchburg. On her drive over, the roads were clear of snow.

Her parking space looked clear too, though the surface of the parking lot looked wet. She

parked, opened her door, saw no hazard on the ground, got out of her car—and immediately

2 USCA4 Appeal: 24-1102 Doc: 38 Filed: 06/04/2025 Pg: 3 of 18

slipped. She struggled to get back up to her feet and had to grab onto her truck to stand.

To avoid slipping again, Brown got back in her truck and moved into a different parking

spot closer to the store.

Upon entering the Wal-Mart after her fall, Brown was met by an employee who saw

Brown’s wet clothing and knew that Brown had fallen. Although her clothes were wet

from the fall, Brown noticed no salt or other deicing chemicals clinging to her clothing.

The employee, concerned, went to fetch the store manager.

The store manager on duty that day was Anthony Ware. After Ware came out to

meet Brown, he accompanied her out to the spot of her fall to take

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