Pierce v. City of Lansing

694 N.W.2d 65
Michigan Court of Appeals·Decided March 29, 2005·No. 250124·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

694 N.W.2d 65 (2005)
264 Mich.App. 174

Sheryl L. PIERCE and Herman M. Pierce, Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
CITY OF LANSING, Defendant-Appellant, and
Otis Elevator Company, Defendant.

Docket No. 250124.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted February 2, 2005, at Lansing.
Decided February 10, 2005, at 9:00 a.m.
Released for Publication March 29, 2005.

*66 Sinas, Dramis, Brake, Boughton & McIntyre, P.C. (by Michael E. Larkin), Lansing, for Sheryl L. and Herman M. Pierce.

*67 Plunkett & Cooney, P.C. (by Mary Massaron Ross, Camille T. Horne, and David K. Otis), Detroit, for the city of Lansing.

Before: MARKEY, P.J., and MURPHY and O'CONNELL, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant city of Lansing[1] appeals by right the trial court's order denying its motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(7) and (10). We affirm.

Plaintiffs commenced this action, alleging that plaintiff Sheryl Pierce was injured when she fell while entering an elevator at a city-owned parking structure. Plaintiff[2] alleged that she fell when she failed to notice that the floor of the elevator was not even with the floor on which she was standing. According to a witness, the floor levels were uneven because the elevator was bouncing up and down when the doors opened.

Defendant moved for summary disposition on the basis of governmental immunity and claimed that the parking structure where plaintiff fell was not a public building for purposes of the public building exception to governmental immunity, M.C.L. § 691.1406. The trial court denied the motion and additionally rejected defendant's alternative argument that it could not be liable for plaintiff's injuries because the allegedly dangerous condition of the elevator was open and obvious.

Defendant first argues that the trial court erred in finding that the parking structure where plaintiff was injured qualifies as a public building.

Governmental immunity is a question of law that is reviewed de novo. Mack v. Detroit, 467 Mich. 186, 193, 649 N.W.2d 47 (2002). Also, a trial court's decision on a motion for summary disposition is reviewed de novo. Maiden v. Rozwood, 461 Mich. 109, 118, 597 N.W.2d 817 (1999). When reviewing a motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(7), all well-pleaded allegations must be accepted as true and construed in favor of the nonmoving party, unless contradicted by any affidavits, depositions, admissions, or other documentary evidence submitted by the parties. Id. at 119, 597 N.W.2d 817. If no facts are in dispute, or if reasonable minds could not differ regarding the legal effect of the facts, the question whether the claim is barred by governmental immunity is an issue of law. Id. at 120-122, 597 N.W.2d 817.

The public building exception to governmental immunity, MCL 691.1406, provides:

Governmental agencies have the obligation to repair and maintain public buildings under their control when open for use by members of the public. Governmental agencies are liable for bodily injury and property damage resulting from a dangerous or defective condition of a public building if the governmental agency had actual or constructive knowledge of the defect and, for a reasonable time after acquiring knowledge, failed to remedy the condition or to take action reasonably necessary to protect the public against the condition. Knowledge of the dangerous and defective condition of the public building and time to repair the same shall be conclusively presumed *68 when such defect existed so as to be readily apparent to an ordinary observant person for a period of 90 days or longer before the injury took place....
[Emphasis added.]

A plaintiff seeking to invoke the public building exception must prove:

"(1) a governmental agency is involved, (2) the public building in question is open for use by members of the public, (3) a dangerous or defective condition of the public building itself exists, (4) the governmental agency had actual or constructive knowledge of the alleged defect, and (5) the governmental agency failed to remedy the alleged defective condition after a reasonable period of time or failed to take action reasonably necessary to protect the public against the condition after a reasonable period." [Fane v. Detroit Library Comm., 465 Mich. 68, 75, 631 N.W.2d 678 (2001), quoting Kerbersky v. Northern Michigan Univ., 458 Mich. 525, 529, 582 N.W.2d 828 (1998).]

Our Supreme Court has held that in order to be covered by the public building exception "the injury must be occasioned by the dangerous or defective physical condition of the building itself. As long as the danger of injury is presented by a physical condition of the building, it little matters that the condition arose because of improper design, faulty construction, or absence of safety devices." Reardon v. Dep't of Mental Health, 430 Mich. 398, 410, 424 N.W.2d 248 (1988).

Because M.C.L. § 691.1406 does not define the term "building," appellate courts will "give it its plain and ordinary meaning, and consult dictionary definitions." Ali v. Detroit, 218 Mich.App. 581, 584, 554 N.W.2d 384 (1996). As this Court observed in Ali, supra at 584-585, 554 N.W.2d 384:

"Building" is defined as a "relatively permanent, essentially boxlike construction having a roof and used for any of a wide variety of activities, as living, entertaining, or manufacturing," The Random House College Dictionary: Revised Edition (1984), and a "structure designed for habitation, shelter, storage, trade, manufacturing, religion, business, education and the like. A structure or edifice enclosing a space within its walls, and usually, but not necessarily[,] covered with a roof." Black's Law Dictionary (5th ed).

In Ali, the Court concluded that, in light of the ordinary and commonly accepted meaning of the word "building," a bus passenger shelter that was described as "a walled structure made of plexiglas and steel and was designed to protect people from inclement weather" was a building within the meaning of the statute. Id. at 585, 554 N.W.2d 384.

Conversely, in Freedman v. Oak Park, 170 Mich.App. 349, 353, 427 N.W.2d 557 (1988), this Court held that, although a covered park bench was a man-made structure open to the public, it was not a public building. The Court in Freedman reasoned that because the purpose of the covered park bench was merely to "provide[ ] a place to sit or a place to seek refuge from inclement weather," it was not a public building. Id.

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Pierce v. City of Lansing, 694 N.W.2d 65 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

694 N.W.2d 65 (Pierce v. City of Lansing) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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