IRAC METHOD

CASE EXAMPLE 5-6 Hudechek v. Novi Hotel Fund Limited Partnership 2007 WL 466108 (Mi. 2007). Plaintiff slipped and fell on a wet sidewalk while leaving defendant's hotel at the conclusion of a professional seminar. The sidewalk had been painted. Plaintiff acknowledged during his depo- sition that the painted condition of the sidewalk was readily observable. He also acknowledged that as he was exiting the hotel he observed people running from the parking lot to avoid becoming wet from rain. Plaintiff sustained head, neck and back injuries as a result of his fall. The trial court granted summary judgment to the hotel on the basis that any danger posed by the wet painted sidewalk was open and obvious. Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred.... Whether a danger is open and obvious depends on whether it is reasonable to expect that an average person with ordinary intelligence would have discovered the danger on casual inspection.... The open and obvious doctrine will cut off liability if the invitee should have discovered the condition and realized its danger. Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred by granting defendant's motion for summary judg- ment. We disagree. The undisputed evidence shows that both the painted condition of defendant's sidewalk and that it was raining at the time plaintiff exited defendant's hotel were readily observable. Plaintiff was talking to his daughter as he walked to his vehicle and was not attentive to the conditions of his surroundings. It is reasonable to conclude that plaintiff would not have been injured had he been attentive to the conditions around him, including simply watching where he was walking more closely. Thus, the trial court did not err in concluding that the condition of the sidewalk was open and obvious. adta ha alert to the possible