LANSING, Mich. (Legal Newsline) – A summary disposition ruling against Detroit Transportation Corp. was reversed in a negligence case that involved a man’s fatal fall between two trains at the Detroit People Mover’s Times Square Station in Detroit.
The Michigan Court of Appeals reversed the Wayne Circuit Court's ruling that denied DTC’s motion for summary disposition on Oct. 17. DTC argued it was entitled to government immunity, but the lower court found that the public building exception to governmental immunity applied and denied the motion.
The appeals court disagreed, reversed the ruling and remanded for further proceedings.
Presiding Judge Patrick M. Meter and judges Colleen A. O’Brien and Brock A. Swartzle ruled on the case.
The judges first said the lower court erred when said plaintiff Daniel Berry, who filed the suit on behalf of the estate of Michael Whyte, proved the public-building exception applied. That exception says that government agencies are responsible for fixing public buildings they oversee when it’s open to the public. If they don’t, they’re liable for any injury that occurs because of it.
“In order for the public-building exception to governmental immunity to apply, a plaintiff’s claims must allege that the governmental defendant needed but failed to fix something pertaining to the building," the ruling states. "Plaintiff’s claims do not do so.”
While Berry said that the surveillance infrastructure was broken and didn’t correctly cover the area where the decedent fell (and that if it was working correctly, the DTC could have noticed the issue and stopped the train in time), the appeals court noted that Berry is more so stating that the cameras should have been in a different location than the idea that they should have actually been fixed. Berry’s issue is with the design of the platform, not the functionality of the platform, so this exception fell short, the ruling states.
The appeals court also said that the proprietary-function exception doesn’t apply either. That exception says that governmental immunity doesn’t apply to lawsuits that aim to recover bodily injury or property damage that stem from the performance of a proprietary function.
“The trial court erred when it held that plaintiff met his burden to show that the public-building exception to governmental immunity applied based on the DTC’s failure to install between-car barriers and its purported failure to install surveillance cameras in certain locations. Plaintiffs also failed to establish that the People Mover had a proprietary function.”