[¶ 1] Plaintiff Rose Mary Denman appeals from summary judgments entered in the Superior Court (Cumberland County, Brennan, J.) in favor of defendants Peoples Heritage Bank, Inc. (“Peoples”) and Jack *413 Fox, d/b/a Fox Enterprises (“Fox”). Plaintiff argues on appeal that the court erred in concluding (1) that defendants owed no duty of care to her because they were not in possession of the public sidewalk on which she fell, and (2) that she was not a third party beneficiary to the maintenance contract between Peoples and Fox. Plaintiff also argues that the court erred in failing to find a genuine issue of material fact whether defendants assumed a duty of care by undertaking to clear the public sidewalk or by creating a hazard thereon. Finding no error, we affirm the judgments.
[¶ 2] The undisputed facts may be summarized briefly as follows: Plaintiff was injured on January 23, 1994, when she slipped on snow and ice on a public sidewalk abutting the property of Peoples located on Forest Avenue in Portland. By virtue of a municipal ordinance, Peoples was responsible for snow and ice removal from the public sidewalk. Pursuant to a contract with Peoples, Fox maintained the building, and shoveled and cleaned the sidewalk. On the day in question, Fox had not shoveled or sanded before plaintiffs fall.
[¶ 3] We review the Superior Court’s “entry of summary judgment for errors of law, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the party against whom the judgment was entered.”
Rodrigue v. Rodrigue,
[¶ 4] Plaintiff first argues that there is a genuine issue of material fact whether defendants were “possessors” of the sidewalk in front of the building owned by Peoples and managed by Fox. “ ‘Under Maine law a possessor of land owes a duty to use reasonable care to all persons lawfully on the premises.”’
Quadrino v. Bar Harbor Banking & Trust,
[¶ 5] Because defendants maintained the public sidewalk, plaintiff argues that a genuine issue of material fact exists concerning their possession of the sidewalk. We have previously stated that the owner of land abutting a curb on which plaintiff tripped was not a possessor of the land and did not owe a duty of care.
Quadrino,
[¶ 6] As an abutting landowner, Peoples was required to remove snow and ice from the public sidewalk by Portland City Ordinance.
1
We have previously held that any
*414
failure to remove snow and ice in violation of an ordinance does not create a cause of action in favor of pedestrians injured thereby.
Ouelette v. Miller,
defendants, as owners and occupants of the land and budding abutting upon [the] Street, are not responsible to individuals for injuries resulting to them from defects and want of repair in the sidewalk, or by means of snow and ice accumulated by natural causes thereon, although, by ordinances of the city, it is made the duty of abutters, under prescribed penalties, to keep the sidewalks adjoining their estates in good repair, and seasonably to remove all snow and ice therefrom. Such ordinances are valid, and the work which is' enforced upon them relieves, to the extent of its cost or- value, the city from charges which otherwise it would be necessarily, in discharge of its municipal duties, subjected to.
Ouelette
at 166,
[¶7] Therefore, in the present case, the public duty imposed on defendants by municipal ordinance does not give rise to a duty enforceable by plaintiff. The fact that Peoples hired Fox to remove snow and ice in compliance with the ordinance does not establish a genuine issue of fact concerning an intention to control and possess the public sidewalk. The court did not err in finding as a matter of law that defendants owed plaintiff no duty of care.
[¶ 8] Plaintiff next contends that she has stated a claim against Fox as a third party beneficiary of the maintenance contract between Peoples and Fox. She argues that the contract was intended to benefit pedestrians who were using the public sidewalk to patronize Peoples’ business establishment. The controlling law is set forth in the Restatement (Second) of Contracts as follows:
(1) Unless otherwise agreed between promisor and promisee, a beneficiary of a promise is an intended beneficiary if recognition of a right to performance in the beneficiary is appropriate to effectuate the intention of the parties and either
(a) The performance of the promise will satisfy an obligation of the promisee to pay money to the beneficiary; or
(b) the circumstances indicate that the promisee intends to give the beneficiary the benefit of the promised performance.
(2) An incidental beneficiary is a beneficiary who is not an intended beneficiary.
Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 302 (1981).
“An incidental beneficiary acquires by virtue of the promise no right against the promisor or the promisee.” Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 315 (1981).
[¶9] In order for plaintiff to withstand a motion for summary judgment and proceed as a third party beneficiary, she was required to generate a genuine issue of material fact whether Peoples intended that she receive an enforceable benefit under the maintenance contract.
Devine v. Roche Biomedical Laboratories,
[¶ 10] Plaintiff argues further that she established separate theories of liability on the basis that defendants actually assumed the duty of care when they affirmatively arranged for and maintained the public sidewalk, and on the basis that they created a hazard. With regard to the first contention, we need only note once again that defendants did not voluntarily undertake to remove the snow and ice; they were under a legal obligation to clear the public sidewalk, and no duty arises from acts performed in compliance with the law.
[¶ 11] The record reflects that Fox had not performed any maintenance, shoveling or sanding services on the day of the incident and does not suggest that any prior affirmative acts of defendants created a hazard. In opposing defendants’ motions for summary judgment, plaintiff offered no affidavits, depositions, answers to interrogatories, or admissions, pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 56(c) and 56(e). Plaintiffs attempt to create a genuine issue of fact concerning the condition of the sidewalk with statements of an alleged witness to the incident is of no effect. The unsworn and unsigned statement of the witness is not in compliance with the requirements of Rule 56.
[¶ 12] Finally, we do not reach plaintiff’s argument that we apply the standard of care set forth in
Isaacson v. Husson College,
The entry is:
Judgments affirmed.
Notes
. The ordinance requiring snow removal provides in part:
In the business-pedestrian district, the owner, manager or any person having responsibility for any building or lot of land which abuts any *414 street where there is a sidewalk shall remove snow from the entire sidewalk within twelve (12) hours after snow has ceased to fall.
Portland City Ordinance § 25-173 (Ord. No. 132A-93, 11-15-93).
The ordinance requiring ice removal provides in part:
In the business-pedestrian district, whenever the sidewalk or any part thereof adjoining any building or lot of land on any street shall be encumbered with ice for six (6) hours or more during the daytime, it shall be the duty of the owner and any person having the responsibility for such building or lot to cause such sidewalk to be made safe and convenient by removing the ice therefrom or by covering the same with sand or some other suitable substance.
Portland City Ordinance § 25-174 (Ord. No. 132A-93, 11-15-93).
