Think the State has a duty to fix a defective traffic light?
How about a defective guardrail?
Broken stop sign?
A bridge which is falling apart and dropping broken concrete onto traffic?
Think again.
Not in Michigan. Not anymore.
In Nawrocki v Macomb Co Road Commn, 463 Mich 143 (2000). The court virtually eliminated the government’s responsibility to maintain public roads. Taylor’s court specifically overturned decades of precedent in ruling that the State had no duty to provide adequate warning signs or traffic control devices at known points of hazard. Instead, the Court ruled that the State only has a responsibility to maintain the traveled portion of the actual roadbed. Essentially, the Taylor court is saying since the traffic light, stop sign, guardrail and underside of the bridge are not the actual road bed there is no duty=no responsibility=so sorry your loved one was injured or killed even though we knew about the defect, but it is not our problem.
If you think this kind of judicial activism is wrong, vote to restore fairness by voting for Judge Hathaway for the Michigan Supreme Court on the nonpartisan section of the ballot this November. Remember, you have not cast a vote for the supreme court until you check the box next to Judge Hathaway’s name