Michigan Slip and Fall cases and the “Open and Obvious” defense

In Michigan in the last several years, our courts have decidedly joined the side of the employer’s and insurance companies with respect to slip and fall cases.

If reading this article, you, a family member, or someone that’s a good friend of yours may have suffered a slip and fall in a store or in an area and the insurance company is going to refuse to pay a claim based on a legal doctrine called “Open and Obvious“.

There are several ways to avoid a Michigan slip and fall claim of Open and Obvious defense.

In order for you to do that, you need to have a Michigan personal injury attorney representing you that’s familiar with the case law for Open and Obvious. And why, if it’s available, you can get around the Open and Obvious defense. And in order to do so, you need to have a personal injury attorney working on your slip and fall case from the very beginning.

If you’re reading this article on Open and Obvious, it’s because some other personal injury attorney in Michigan has said something to you, or someone else, that it’s Open and Obvious and you don’t have a slip and fall claim.

Well, before you conclude that it’s not, give us a call at 586-779-7810. We recently had a slip and fall case where the insurance company initially said, Open and Obvious applied, and we were able to offer come it. Our client had fallen in a local grocery store. There was videotape evidence showing the slip and fall. There was clear liquid on the floor and the insurance company said, it’s Open and Obvious, there is no duty on our part, we are not going to pay anything.

We were able to get involved. We filed a personal injury lawsuit. We obtained the videos for the surveillance. We were able to show that that liquid was on that floor for a substantial period of time before our client fell, and the insurance company’s original defense of Open and Obvious was never even raised again.