Opinion
Nos. 141559 and 141560.
March 9, 2011.
Appeal from the reported below: 289 Mich App ___.
Orders Granting Oral Argument in Cases Pending on Application for Leave to Appeal Entered.
The parties shall submit supplemental briefs within 42 days of the date of this order addressing (1) whether the presence of the anchored guy wire at issue in this case was a breach of the city of Royal Oak's duty to keep the sidewalk in "reasonable repair" under MCL 691.1402, (2) if so, whether the exclusion to the highway exception for "utility poles" found at MCL 691.1401(e) removes the wire from the highway exception, (3) the significance of the fact that the sidewalk was not opened for public travel by the public defendants and was me*ant to be barricaded against public use and the fact that the public defendants in this case were aware that the barricades were regularly being set aside or removed by unknown members of the public, (4) whether the alleged conduct of the individual public defendants can reasonably be considered to constitute gross negligence, and (5) whether the alleged conduct of the individual public defendants can be considered "the" proximate cause of the decedent's injury, particularly in light of the decedent's own conduct in this case and his intoxication at the time of injury. Cf. MCL 600.2955a. The parties should not submit mere restatements of their application papers.
The Michigan Association for Justice, Michigan Defense Trial Counsel, Inc., and the Michigan Municipal League are invited to file briefs amicus curiae. Other persons or groups interested in the determination of the issues presented in this case may move the Court for permission to file briefs amicus curiae.