Court of Appeals Issues Summary Reversal of Trial Court’s Denial of Summary Disposition on Interlocutory Application in Premises Liability Case

This is not a remarkable case, factually speaking.  However, the outcome is rare and so, I thought I would do a quick post on it.

On June 23, 2011 I filed an interlocutory Application for Leave to Appeal in the Court of Appeals from a trial court’s denial of summary disposition in a “slip and fall” case.  The Court has no obligation to grant or hear such appeals because it is in the middle of the litigation before trial.  The parties can always appeal by right after the case is over.  They have many other options.  The Court can deny the application altogether making the parties go to trial (usually what happens) finding no merit in the application.  The Court can find some merit in the application, grant it and issue an order affirming the trial court, essentially sending it back to trial (usually what happens if they grant).  The Court can grant the application, hear oral argument and issue an affirmance of the trial court as well.  (usually what happens if they decide to hear oral argument).  The Court can grant the application, hear the oral argument and reverse (rarely does it even do this).  The Court can also, as I urged in my brief, issue a summary reversal of the trial court’s order essentially ending the case because there is no merit to plaintiff’s claims. (never saw this happen before).  Well, that is just what they did!  A unanimous summary reversal.  They sent it back to the trial court for a reversal and said the case is over.  It is attached.  The panel consisted of Judges Gleicher, Cavanagh and Saad.  Here is the order:  304734(11)_order