Restaurant Not Liable for Trip and Fall Death
Plaintiff’s decedent was a frequent patron of Defendant restaurant until he tripped over an asphalt patch of concrete in front of the restaurant’s entrance, hit his head, and died of a brain hemorrhage. A wrongful death action was brought by decedent’s son who witnessed the entire event. The Trial Court denied the restaurant’s motion for summary disposition stating that a reasonable jury could find that the slightly-raised asphalt was not open and obvious and was abnormally dangerous.
In the recent unpublished case of Estate of Aldo H. Grilli, by Personal Representative Davie A. Grilli, v. Mon Jin Lau, Inc., the Michigan Court of Appeals relied upon photographs of the darker-colored and slightly-elevated asphalt patch and reversed the Trial Court’s holding. It opined that a reasonable person would expect that a patron would have discovered the danger.
The Court also rebuffed Plaintiff’s argument that there were special aspects to the hazard. It compared the half-inch-raised patch in front of the restaurant’s entrance to the “unguarded thirty-foot deep pit in the middle of a parking lot” that the Michigan Supreme Court cited as an example of an unreasonably dangerous condition in Lugo v. Ameritech Corp, 464 Mich 51.
Michigan case law generally holds that dangerous conditions which are “open and obvious” to an ordinary individual (not necessarily to the injured party) are a complete bar to recovery.
Click on the link to read the court opinion.
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Alexander & Angelas, P.C. represents defendants in civil liability litigation across Michigan and Northern Ohio. The firm’s practice areas include insurance defense litigation, premises liability, motor carrier (trucking) defense, corporate and commercial litigation, construction defect litigation, auto negligence, insurance coverage disputes, emergency casualty response services, alternative dispute resolution, subrogation claims, workers’ compensation, employment law, and liquor liability.
Attorneys practice in all state and federal courts in Michigan, including Wayne County (Detroit), Macomb County (Mount Clemens), Oakland County (Pontiac), Washtenaw County (Ann Arbor), and Genesee County (Flint). Legal services are also provided in Northern Ohio. Since its founding in 1992, the firm has litigated over 4,000 civil cases.
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