Premises liability; Kandil-Elsayed v F & E Oil, Inc; Slip & fall on porch steps; Whether plaintiff was an invitee; Stitt v Holland Abundant Life Fellowship

Holding that the trial court did not err in ruling that plaintiff was not an invitee on defendant’s property when he slipped and fell on the porch steps, the court affirmed summary disposition for defendant. There was no dispute that he “was on defendant’s property solely to deliver a purchase made by someone else, which was unbeknownst to and unsolicited by defendant.” He was delivering “a gift for defendant’s daughter from her godparents, which defendant had no role in ordering or purchasing. Plaintiff may have had an implied license to enter onto defendant’s property to make that unsolicited delivery.” However, under the facts and applicable legal standards, “he was not defendant’s invitee.” Plaintiff stressed “that defendant received a benefit from the delivery because he did not have to pick up the cookies or arrange for their delivery himself, but we fail to see how defendant’s receipt of a general and unsolicited benefit, alone, would transform plaintiff into his invitee.” Plaintiff also did not offer “anything to suggest that, had the godparents taken it upon themselves to bring their surprise gift to defendant’s home, they would have been defendant’s invitees in so doing.” The court found that it was “not apparent why, in this case, plaintiff’s relationship to defendant—and plaintiff’s corresponding status on defendant’s property—would be any different simply because the godparents hired plaintiff to deliver their gift for them.” The cases he sought to analogize this one to were all distinguishable.