Attorneys Kari L. Melkonian and Jonathan B. Koch won summary disposition in favor of a hotel in a premises liability action arising out of an assault on a visitor at the premises. The plaintiff-visitor was assaulted by a hotel guest and sued the hotel under a premises liability theory that it had a duty to act in response to an allegedly reported threat. The Court dismissed plaintiff’s claims finding that there is no duty to anticipate or prevent the criminal acts of third-parties and that the hotel had no notice of any potential threat and therefore no duty to act.

Attorneys Kevin P. Moloughney and Kari L. Melkonian won summary disposition in favor of a paving contractor in a wrongful death action arising out of a slip and fall in a commercial parking lot. Plaintiff’s decedent allegedly slipped and fell on ice in the parking lot and died as a result of his injuries. The Court dismissed the plaintiff’s claims against the paving contractor finding that plaintiff failed to present evidence that the decedent’s death was caused by any wrongdoing or negligent act of this defendant.

Attorneys Kari Melkonian and Jonathan Koch won summary disposition in favor of a tenant in a premises liability action for injuries arising out of an alleged malfunction of automatic sliding doors at the entrance of a grocery store. The Court dismissed plaintiff’s complaint against the store finding that the door was not defective and that the store lacked notice of any potential hazard. The Court also found that the claim was barred under the open and obvious doctrine.

Plaintiff filed a 21 count complaint in Oakland County Probate Court. Attorneys David C. Anderson and Jonathan B. Koch filed a Motion for Summary Disposition and the Court dismissed their client, an international accounting and investment banking firm, from the case.

Attorneys Deborah A. Lujan and Kari L. Melkonian won summary disposition in favor of a tenant and property owner in a premises liability action arising out of a slip and fall in a commercial parking lot. The Court dismissed plaintiff’s complaint against the tenant finding that the cause of the fall was completely speculative and that the tenant lacked notice of any potential hazard. The claim against the property owner was dismissed because it did not have possession and control of the premises.

Attorneys Lauren A. Frederick and Brian A. Catrinar successfully argued motion for summary disposition against medical provider (Medical Rehabilitation Physicians, Comprehensive Rx and Infiniti Labs [Reed] v Auto-Owners Insurance Company). Medical providers filed suit against a defendant-insurer in Macomb County Circuit Court for breach of contract, civil conspiracy, silent fraud and conversion, claiming that the defendant-insurer wrongfully included the providers’ bills in a settlement in an underlying action involving the alleged injured party. The defendant-insurer filed a motion for summary disposition in lieu of an answer arguing that the bills were barred by the one-year-back rule and res judicata, and that the tort claims were nothing more than disguised claims for no-fault benefits. Judge Jennifer Faunce agreed with the defendant-insurer’s arguments in totality and dismissed the providers’ case with prejudice.