Premises liability; Slip & fall on an icy mobile home community sidewalk; Effect of the fact the area was subject to a government easement; Morrow v Boldt; Lack of evidence defendant’s conduct increased the risk that day; Claim under MCL 554.139(1)(a); Common areas; Allison v AEW Capital Mgmt, LLP

Concluding that plaintiff failed to show “that defendant owed her a duty under common law, statute, or voluntarily assuming maintenance of the sidewalk” where she fell, the court affirmed summary disposition for defendant. Plaintiff lived in defendant’s mobile home community. She “slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk while she took her dog on an early-morning walk along the outer boundaries of” the community. The court concluded the trial court was correct “that there was no genuine issue of material fact on whether defendant exercised possession and control over the sidewalk at issue.” Defendant presented evidence that the area where plaintiff fell was “subject to a government easement, and plaintiff did not offer evidence to dispute this. As the owner of the easement, the government had ‘the duty to maintain’” it. The court also concluded the trial court properly found “that plaintiff failed to establish a genuine issue of material fact as to whether defendant voluntarily increased the dangerous conditions on the sidewalk where” she fell. While there was deposition testimony suggesting that it “occasionally maintained the sidewalks, plaintiff failed to present evidence that defendant shoveled or salted the sidewalk before plaintiff slipped on that particular day. A photo more than 24 hours after the fall is too speculative and does not show who cleared the sidewalk and when and where they cleared it.” As to her argument based on MCL 554.139(1)(a), she failed to “provide sufficient evidence to support her claim that she fell in a common area. The owner and operator of defendant’s property testified that the only common areas were the office and the mailboxes.” While plaintiff offered “deposition testimony that defendant’s employees had occasionally removed snow and ice from the sidewalk as a courtesy[,]” even if it “‘routinely’ or ‘regularly’ maintained the area, that alone is not enough to establish the possession or control sufficient for a common area.”