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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS


MARC CHAMBERS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v WAYNE COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY, Defendant/Cross-PlaintiffAppellant, and KNIGHT FACILITIES MANAGEMENT, INC., Defendant/Cross-Defendant.

UNPUBLISHED June 5, 2008

No. 277900 Wayne Circuit Court LC No. 05-531729-NO

Before: Davis, P.J., and Murray and Beckering, JJ. PER CURIAM. Defendant Wayne County Airport Authority ("defendant") appeals as of right from a circuit court order denying its motion for summary disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(7) (governmental immunity), (8), and (10). We affirm. This appeal is being decided without oral argument pursuant to MCR 7.214(E). Plaintiff alleged that he fell in a puddle of water at the LC Smith Terminal of the Wayne County Airport. After his fall, Joseph Phillipson, an officer with the Wayne County Airport Authority, was flagged down by passers-by and wrote up an incident report. Among other points included in the report was a witness who stated that she observed plaintiff fall in a puddle of water and observed that there had been a cleaning crew on the site but "there was just too much water to clean up." Officer Phillipson also wrote that he personally observed several leaks from the ceiling, a cleaning crew mopping the floors, orange pylons near the larger puddles, and wet floor signs being placed as he was on the scene. Officer Phillipson stated in the report that he notified Wayne County Operations Agent James Power of both the incident and the leaking ceilings. Plaintiff now alleges that defendant had a duty to maintain the public building and prevent and protect against dangerous conditions. Defendant moved for summary disposition and argued, in part, that plaintiff failed to provide notice of the occurrence within 120 days as -1-


required by MCL 691.1406. The trial court found that the incident report was sufficient to satisfy the requirements of MCL 691.1406, and on that basis it denied defendant's motion. We review de novo the trial court's denial of summary disposition. Rowland v Washtenaw Co Rd Comm, 477 Mich 197, 202; 731 NW2d 41 (2007). MCL 691.1406 states, in pertinent part: As a condition to any recovery for injuries sustained by reason of any dangerous or defective public building, the injured person, within 120 days from the time the injury occurred, shall serve a notice on the responsible governmental agency of the occurrence of the injury and the defect. The notice shall specify the exact location and nature of the defect, the injury sustained and the names of the witnesses known at the time by the claimant. The notice may be served upon any individual, either personally, or by certified mail, return receipt requested, who may lawfully be served with civil process directed against the responsible governmental agency, anything to the contrary in the charter of any municipal corporation notwithstanding. . . . The gravamen of defendant's motion for summary disposition was that the first communication it received from plaintiff regarding the incident was the commencement of the instant lawsuit approximately sixteen months after the incident

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