The Michigan Supreme Court recently reinstated a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to a defendant shotgun owner following an accidental shooting because the plaintiff could not establish that any alleged breach constituted the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries.The case arose from the accidental discharge of a shotgun on the early morning of July 21, […]
The Michigan intermediate court recently upheld a lower court’s decision against a plaintiff attorney and former law professor in a case involving a parody Twitter account.Todd Levitt is a lawyer and former professor at Central Michigan University. CMU students are his firm’s primary clientele. Levitt marketed his firm heavily on Twitter. The former account announced him as […]
Plaintiffs Fred St. Onge and Karen Ross were hit by a State of Michigan vehicle driven by defendant Ramona G. Smith, an employee of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). The lower court granted summary disposition to Smith, pursuant to the Governmental Tort Liability Act (GTLA), reasoning that Smith was entitled to governmental […]
The Michigan Court of Appeals recently ruled that the black ice on which a plaintiff was injured was open and obvious, triggering no legal duty for the defendants to exercise reasonable care and rendering summary judgment appropriate. In February 2011, plaintiff Trawmisha Toney visited Eastland Mall in Harper Woods, which is owned and operated by […]
The Michigan Court of Appeals recently remanded a case with instructions for the lower court to order summary judgment in favor of the defendant electric company because the plaintiff could not provide sufficient proof of a causal link between the power shutoff and the injuries alleged.Robert Ruffins, who suffers from dementia, had his electricity shut […]
In February 2012, Chris Penzak was crossing Parent Street in Royal Oak to her car after leaving an appointment. She tripped and fell when her toe hit a one-half inch rise in the road. Penzak suffered injuries to her pelvis, rib, and knees. She had been attending appointments in the same building twice a week […]
The Michigan Court of Appeals recently upheld a lower court’s grant of summary disposition to a defendant township when a plaintiff injured on a sidewalk could not show that the township had sufficient notice of the defect.In October 2011, plaintiff Lisa Jacques fell on a raised portion of sidewalk in Macomb Township. She filed suit against the township […]
In July 2014, Michigan resident James King was severely beaten by officers after being mistaken for a fugitive. Adding insult to injury, he was then charged with numerous felonies. He recently filed suit in U.S. District Court for Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment violations to get “some sort of justice” from the horrific incident.A detective and […]
The Michigan Court of Appeals recently held that there was a genuine factual dispute regarding whether special circumstances imposed a duty on defendants to exercise reasonable care to diminish the hazards of ice and snow accumulation on the driveway on which a plaintiff was injured. In November 2012, Gloria Freedland moved from an assisted living […]
In July 2010, plaintiff Samantha Johnson attended horseback riding camp sponsored by defendant and held on a ranch called Outback. Samantha was an inexperienced horseback rider and was injured on a trail ride. Plaintiff brought suit, alleging that defendant was liable for Samantha’s injury. Samantha testified that to the trail ride on which she was […]
