Trial lawyers specializing in personal injury and civil litigation
Man who fell on "black ice" in parking lot cannot sue; claim summarily dismissed
Because there was snow around, the Court held that the potential for "black ice" should have been known to Thomas J. Pifer, and therefor the danger it represented was "open and obvious" and the landowner owed no duty to eliminate or warn of the hazard. Activist Justices have pretty much eliminated any form of premises liability--or the constitutional right to jury trial--by holding that a land possessor can invite persons on the property without eliminating known hazards--so long as the hazard is one that "would have been apparent to a casual observer." The activist majority of the Michigan Supreme Court have enhanced this "defense immunity" by encouraging lower court judges to decide, factually, what "casual observers" would see.