The drowning of a Richfield Township girl a few week ago is a sad reminder about the importance of implementing strategies to prevent these tragedies from occurring.  (7/15) Flint Journal In the Richfield case, the toddler awakened from a nap and climbed into the family’s pool after going outside unnoticed. According to a recent report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, drowning is a leading cause of unintentional injury-related deaths in the U.S. among children  between the ages of 1 and 19. The report states that for drowning and injury prevention there must be “layers of protection” in place as no single strategy would likely prevent all drownings or water-related injuries. Layers of protection could include adult supervision, pool covers, water-entry alarms and swimming and survival skill training. Four-sided pool fencing around all pools, including large above-ground inflatable or portable pools, isolating the pool from the house and yard have been shown to decrease pool immersion deaths and injuries by over 50%. Using these strategies may have prevented the Richfield drowning.

Did You Know that Michigan has Very Restrictive Slip and Fall Laws?

Most people seem to think when you fall on some business property, the business is automatically required to pay for your expenses and injuries. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the more obvious/blatant a particular condition is, the chances of recovery are reduced. It is known as the doctrine of “Open and Obvious”.

Over the past several years, Michigan Courts have increasingly been preventing persons who have been injured on someone else’s property from recovering any damages based upon this “open and obvious” defense. Property owners are held by Michigan law to have certain duties to keep their property reasonably safe. However, Michigan Courts have increasingly held that property owners are NOT required to protect you from dangers that are “open and obvious”. This means that, if the Court feels that a “reasonable person of ordinary intelligence”should have discovered the condition that caused your injury, the property owner is entitled to assume that you would discover that condition as well and then take steps to protect yourself. This rule can sometimes have harsh consequences in its application because persons are often distracted as they walk and assume that a property owner had maintained their property in a reasonably safe manner. Therefore, if the dangerous condition that causes your injury is “open and obvious”, the Court will often rule that the property owner owes no duty at all to protect you and your claim will fail.

A fitness instructor who was injured in a ship and fall accident while aboard an NCL cruise ship was awarded $9.5 million by a Miami jury. The accident rendered the victim incontinent and impotent from back injuries he sustained in the fall. The verdict included damages for pain and suffering, economic loses and medical expenses. (12/30) Miami Herald