Bivens v. Grand Rapids

In Bivens v. Grand Rapids, 443 Mich. 391, 396; 505 N.W.2d 239 (1993), the plaintiff was injured while riding her bicycle on a city sidewalk. She sued the city and the owner of the property that adjoined the allegedly defective sidewalk. The trial court dismissed the suit against the property owner, concluding it had no duty of care to an individual user of the public sidewalk. Thereafter, the city filed a third-party complaint against the property owner, seeking indemnification for any damages it might have to pay the plaintiff and alleging that the property owner breached its duty under the city ordinance to maintain the sidewalk. The trial court again granted summary disposition in favor of the landowner, concluding that the ordinance did not create a private right to recover against the landowner. Id. at 394. Ultimately, the Court ruled in favor of the landowner because it found that the city lacked the authority under its charter to impose by ordinance an obligation on abutting landowners to indemnify the city. However, the Court did comment that there was a more general underlying question to the case, but one that it need not address: Notwithstanding the final sentence of ordinance 4.84, which purports to allow any person injured on a defective sidewalk to bring a civil action against the abutting property owner, the trial court ruled, as already noted, that plaintiff's complaint failed to state a cause of action against the property owner. Because that decision was not appealed, the question whether a city may create such a private cause of action is not squarely before us. Id.