Court says an Incident Report satisfies notice requirement

When someone is injured as a result of an unsafe government building or road, the immunity statute requires that they give notice to the government authority. This notice may be required within as little as 60 days.   In Chambers v. Wayne County Airport Authority, the Court of Appeals held that the requirement was met by a thorough report filed by a police officer who was summoned to the scene.

The Airport Authority did not deny Chambers' injury or the leaking ceilings, or even that it had notice of the problem prior to his fall.  Rather, it sought summary disposition on the basis of Chambers' failure to send it the requisite notice of injury within two months.  The trial court found that the notice requirement was met by the investigating officer's actions on the date of injury, and the Court of Appeals agreed unanimously.  This is the kind of common sense outcome, and the kind of technical loophole, that is likely to find its way to a decision against the victim in the Michigan Supreme Court.  The activist conservative majority has reveled in an orgy of reversing and overturning this type of decision on behalf of special interest insurers and lobbyists. Stay tuned.