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Lion's Paint Shop Case Summary

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The issue is whether Lion’s Paint Shop owes any legal duty of care to Mr. Newhouse to ensure his safety from unreasonable risk of harm caused by dangerous conditions while on the premises of the paint store. In order to provide adequate information to support Mr. Newhouse’s case, we must determine whether Mr. Newhouse have alleged facts sufficient to state a claim for fault, gross negligence, or willful and wanton misconduct on the store’s part to recover damages for his injuries as a result of his slip and fall incident on Lion’s Paint Store premises. Under Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 600.6304(8), when a breach of legal duty exists, the defendant is at “fault” and can be liable for negligence under duty of care based upon the status of the claimant …show more content…

Newhouse’s injuries, the paint store responded claiming that Mr. Newhouse had a duty to avoid the spill in the aisle and that Mr. Newhouse was distracted by his four-year-old daughter who was misbehaving in the aisle for him to notice the spill on the floor. In other words, the paint store claims that the spill was open and obvious and they should not be held liable for injuries where the dangers should have been known to Mr. Newhouse if he had not been distracted by his daughter. The open and obvious doctrine should not be viewed as some type of “exception” to the duty generally owed by the possessors to invitees, but rather as an essential part of the description of that duty. Lugo v. Ameritech Corp., Inc., 629 N.W.2d 384, 386, 464 Mich. 512, 516 (Mich.,2001). In resolving the issue concerning the open and obvious doctrine, we must determine whether the condition of Lion’s Paint Store at issue was open and obvious and if so, whether there were distinct characteristics of the situation that however made it unreasonably dangerous. Viewing the facts of the incident, the spilled paint was said to be clear in color which might have not been easily seen by Mr. Newhouse regardless if he was distracted by his daughter. The clear color paint is a distinct characteristic that made the situation unreasonably dangerous and therefore, under the Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 600.6304(8) constitutes “fault” on the store’s part for failing to fulfill their legal duty owed to the invitee, Mr.

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