HARONDO EVANS V CITY OF TAYLOR
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
HARONDO EVANS,
UNPUBLISHED
July 5, 2002
Plaintiff-Appellant,
No. 230792
Wayne Circuit Court
LC No. 99-935631-CZ
V
CITY OF TAYLOR, WILLIAM DEMAGGIO,
and GREGORY SMITH,
Defendants-Appellees,
and
JAMES HUBBARD,
Defendant.
Before: Hood, P.J., and Saad and E. M. Thomas,* JJ.
MEMORANDUM.
Plaintiff appeals as of right the order granting defendants’ motion for summary
disposition based on the public duty doctrine. We reverse. This appeal is being decided without
oral argument pursuant to MCR 7.214(E).
The individual defendants are fire inspectors for the City of Taylor. Plaintiff alleged that
they were grossly negligent in investigating the cause of a fire at his home. Applying White v
Beasley, 453 Mich 308; 552 NW2d 1 (1996), the trial court granted summary disposition based
on the public duty doctrine, finding that defendants did not have a special relationship with
plaintiff.
The Supreme Court reviewed the application of the public duty doctrine in Beaudrie v
Henderson, 465 Mich 124; 631 NW2d 308 (2001). It found that courts have failed to develop an
intellectually defensible line between public duties and actionable negligence. Id., 138. The
public duty doctrine was arguably inconsistent with the governmental immunity statute. Id., 139.
The Court concluded that it would continue to apply the public duty doctrine to cases involving
an alleged failure to provide police protection, but that it would otherwise determine the liability
* Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.
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of public employees using the same common-law duty analysis applicable to private individuals.
Id., 141.
In light of Beaudrie, the public duty doctrine cannot be applied to these defendants.
Their duty to plaintiff must be determined under common law principles, and any immunity from
liability must be determined under the Governmental Immunity Act, MCL 691.1407.
Reversed and remanded for further proceedings. We do not retain jurisdiction.
/s/ Harold Hood
/s/ Henry William Saad
/s/ Edward M. Thomas
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