House Bill 4582 – The Fight to Restore Open and Obvious By Samantha Clark, Property Management Intern, Thomas Duke Company, Senior, University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy
If your commercial liability premiums have gone up every year since 2023, there’s a reason – and the fix is pending in the Michigan Senate. In 2023, the Michigan Supreme Court overturned Michigan’s Open and Obvious premises liability doctrine. Since then, commercial liability exposure and insurance costs have risen by double digits every year with no sign of slowing. House Bill 4582, which would restore the doctrine, has passed the Michigan House of Representatives but is currently stuck in the Senate Committee on Finance, Insurance and Consumer Protection.
Property owners, property managers, business owners and anyone else who has been affected by the 2023 overturn need to rally behind HB 4582 and get the Michigan Senate to pass it. Michigan had an “Open and Obvious” Doctrine for over 20 years before the Michigan Supreme Court’s Kandil-Elsayed decision overturned it. The doctrine held that when a condition on a property was clearly visible and an average adult could reasonably notice and avoid it, the property owner had no legal duty to warn visitors about it. This allowed Michigan judges to automatically dismiss frivolous injury and other premises liability lawsuits before they ever reached a jury.
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online