Attorneys Kyle M. Dysarz and Deborah A. Lujan recently obtained summary disposition in favor of a well-established Ann Arbor hotel and restaurant based upon its lack of notice in a unique premises-liability case.
Dysarz and Lujan argued that summary disposition in favor of the hotel and restaurant was proper under the Michigan Supreme Court’s 2016 Lowrey decision because the plaintiff failed to produce any evidence that the hotel and restaurant knew or should have known of alleged water on its stairs before the plaintiff’s fall. In a bizarre set of events, the hotel and restaurant suffered a massive flood because of a broken fire sprinkler that caused water to rush down the stairs less than an hour after the plaintiff fell on the stairs. The plaintiff tried to argue that the hotel and restaurant had notice of alleged water on its stairs before the plaintiff’s fall because of the nature and location of the subsequent water incident. Dysarz and Lujan argued the subsequent and sudden flooding of water from the fire-suppression line was unrelated to the plaintiff’s fall and was not evidence that the hotel and restaurant knew or should have known of the alleged presence of water on its stairs before plaintiff’s fall.
The Washtenaw County Circuit Court agreed with attorneys Dysarz and Lujan and found that the hotel and restaurant only became aware of any alleged water after the plaintiff’s fall. During oral argument, the Court was shown security footage depicting the plaintiff’s fall occurring long before the unrelated and subsequent flood from the broken fire sprinkler. Since the plaintiff failed to provide any evidence that the hotel and restaurant had notice of water on its stairs before the plaintiff’s fall, the Court granted summary disposition and dismissed the case with prejudice.
