Premises Liability

Court/Case No: Macomb County Circuit Court/17-001403-NI

Tried/Argued Before: Judge

Demand: N/A

Verdict: $0 – Motion for Summary Disposition granted

Name of Judge(s): Honorable Joseph Toia

Keys to the Case:

Plaintiff filed the instant lawsuit alleging serious and permanent injuries to her neck and back, including five herniated discs which occurred when Plaintiff drove over a bent manhole cover owned by Defendant. Plaintiff alleged that Defendant had a duty to inspect all of its manhole covers located on public roadways and further maintained that Defendant breached its duty by negligently failing to maintain the subject manhole.

Plaintiff testified that she was traveling down Hall Road when she drove over a bent manhole cover causing it to flip up and flatten her tire. At the time of the incident, a cement company had been repairing and repaving the area directly surrounding Defendant’s manhole cover. It was uncontroverted that there was some sort of issue with the manhole cover that day as the police report noted that multiple cars had the same problem. However, Defendant was not made aware of any issue with the manhole until it received notice from MDOT following the incident.

Defendant filed a Motion for Summary Disposition on the grounds that it did not have actual or constructive notice of any defective condition. Furthermore, Defendant asserted that it did not have a duty to routinely inspect all manhole covers for defects. The trial court agreed and dismissed the case, noting that Plaintiff’s claim sounded exclusively in premises liability as it arose from a condition of the land. The Court found that Defendant did not have notice of any defective condition as it did not receive notice of the bent manhole cover until well after the subject incident and that it did not fail to use reasonable care to discover any dangerous conditions caused by the manhole.

Defense SW attorney(s) Involved in Case: