Advocacy News – Aug. 2, 2023
Leading up to the July 31 deadline, the Michigan Supreme Court (Court) issued its final decisions of the 2022–2023 term.
Shake up to slip and fall defenses – A 5-2 decision by the Court July 28 dismantled a decades-old system to analyze a property owner’s duty in slip and fall cases, overturning Michigan’s 20-year “open and obvious standard.”
- Why it matters: This decision could have sweeping impacts for every property owner in the state. Under the previous system, property owners are free from liability if the danger causing the accident was “open and obvious.” Under the Court’s decision, property owners must “take reasonable care to protect invitees.” The minority opinion cautioned that the ruling could “wreak havoc” on the judicial system and property owners by spurring more lawsuits.
- Go deeper: To read the Court’s syllabus and decision, click HERE.
Threshold for Workers’ Compensation cases – The Court released a 4-2 decision July 28 that the current threshold for receiving Worker’s Compensation benefits was too stringent, overturning a 2001 precedent.
- Why it matters: Under the previous system, there is a “significant manner” causation standard, meaning the injured worker must demonstrate that their workplace injury (mental or physical) significantly contributed to the claimed disability. Under the Court’s decision, judges would have to review the “totality of the circumstances, including temporal proximity and severity.” Many believe this could make more claims, where a preexisting condition exists, compensable.
- Go deeper: To read the Court’s syllabus and decision, click HERE.
Auto insurance reforms cannot be applied retroactively – The Michigan Supreme Court issued a 5-2 opinion July 31, finding the 2019 no-fault auto insurance law was not meant to apply retroactively to individuals injured before the law’s passage June 11, 2019. Instead, the justices found those injured prior to effective date have both contractual and statutory protections that vested when they were injured and should be insulated from the fee schedule, restraints that were viewed key to the law’s effectiveness.
- Why it matters: The medical fee schedule and other reforms were put in place to lower Michigan’s highest-in-the-nation auto insurance costs. While the Court’s decision removes a key provision of the 2019 law, it doesn’t fully dismantle it because it kept intact the fee schedule for those injured after the bill’s effective date. Regardless, the Court’s minority warned this decision “undermines the Legislature’s efforts to address one of the most significant issues facing the state” and will result in the cost-reducing effects of the reform not being “fully … felt for many decades.”
- Go deeper: To read the Court’s syllabus and decision, click HERE.