City's claim of inadequate notice is rebuffed

The City of Pontiac persuaded a local judge to dismiss Larry Aniel's injury lawsuit based on the supposed inexactness of Aniel's notice of injury.  A notice of injury must be filed within 120 days when a citizen claims injury due to a defective sidewalk or highway, and the notice must comply with very specific statutory requirements.  The activist Republican justices of Michigan's Supreme Court have ruled that "substantial compliance" with the notice provisions is not adequate. 

In this case, Aniel's notice told the City that the defect in the sidewalk where Aniel was hurt was located on the sidewalk "in front of 200 East Montcalm" on the south side of the street near Joslyn, and near [the only] sewer cover.  The reviewing judges unanimously repudiated any suggestion that this was an insufficiently exact description of the location of the sidewalk defect.  What a waste of judicial resources:  this is what happens when insurers believe that almost any argument they make will be upheld by activist Judges.