Justin: In sterling heights and she says that her daughter had a slip and fall at school on one of these icy days and she wants to know if she has a cause of action or if she can sue the school. This is a difficult area and it’s really changed a lot in, in Michigan. And uh, we actually have had a recent case that says black ice, uh, is open and obvious so you can’t sue, which is crazy to me, but that’s a cause by the definition Black ice is invisible but you can’t sue. Tina’s got a couple of things working against her here. One is that the school, and they’re going to have some municipal immunities that governmental immunities have, so it’s going to be hard to sue them. The other is that they’re going to say that that is open and obvious all day. Because in Michigan you’re expected to know about ice.
Justin: So you would have to show up. There’s gross negligence. Gross negligence is a really high standard and these icy days in Michigan, it’s going to be almost impossible to, uh, to pursue a claim like that. Slip and falls are probably some of the most difficult cases that we have. I do him attorney Mark Dundon does them with us as well, and he, uh, he’s quite good at them and he’ll tell you that, uh, the, the best cases, the cases were open and obvious doesn’t affect people are cases where you’re, um, you know, living in an apartment, we had to call, I had a caller this week, who called me. Um, they said, you know, I live at this apartment, I’m coming out. Uh, they never get rid of the ice. They never get rid of the snow. Uh, there’s potholes and I, in this case, there was a, a problem, a defect in the driveway where she parks and that’s the only way she can get in.
Justin: So those are cases where we actually get around this open and obvious defense, which is a bar to most people who, uh, who try to make these claims. So if you’re in an apartment, if you’re in a rental and you slip and fall, you get around this open and obvious because they have a duty under the lease to protect you. So those are, those are cases where you can actually, uh, pursue those claims and actually get money for your damages. So a lot of times people call attorneys and they’re real quick to say, oh no, you slipped and fell. Michigan’s almost impossible now. Ah, open and obvious your case is over. So don’t listen to all of that. Always get a second opinion. And if you’re in a situation, especially in as a situation with an apartment condo or something like that where you’re renting a rental house, anything like that, those types of situations, those are the ones where you actually can pursue a slip and fall accidents. So sounds like Tina is probably, uh, probably out of luck for the slip and fall at the school. But other people always, uh, you know, do like she did and give us a call or shoot us an email.