The Michigan Supreme Court Restores the Legal Rights of Injured Consumers and Shoppers to Seek Compensation from Negligent Business and Property Owners
For the last twenty years, a judge made law in Michigan made it almost impossible for injured accident victims to seek compensation when injured at a business even if the business was negligent in maintaining their property which resulted in an injury to a business invitee.
The previous rule held that if a condition could have been observed by the store patron, then the business owner had no legal duty to protect the patron from the condition.
A Michigan court even applied this legal doctrine to a blind accident victim and dismissed his legal case seeking compensation when injured at a business. The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 5-2 decision, restored common sense to the area of premises liability law and overturned the case of Lugo v. Ameritech Corp. Inc. in a landmark decision.
The Court held that while the open and obvious nature of a condition is relevant to the potential comparative fault of an accident victim, it is no longer to be dispositive to the question of the duty of the premise owner to keep the premises safe for business invitees. See Kondil-El Sayed v F. E. Oil Inc. and Pinsley v. Kroger Co. of Michigan, decided July 28, 2023.
Please contact our Ann Arbor Personal Injury Law Firm for a Free Consultation to explain your rights in detail after an accident causing personal injury in Michigan.