Bill Text: MI HB5397 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Torts; governmental immunity; liability for repairing and maintaining highways; extend to include design elements beyond the physical roadbed. Amends sec. 2 of 1964 PA 170 (MCL 691.1402).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-15 - Printed Bill Filed 02/15/2012 [HB5397 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2011-HB5397-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 5397

 

February 14, 2012, Introduced by Rep. Irwin and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

     A bill to amend 1964 PA 170, entitled

 

"An act to make uniform the liability of municipal corporations,

political subdivisions, and the state, its agencies and

departments, officers, employees, and volunteers thereof, and

members of certain boards, councils, and task forces when engaged

in the exercise or discharge of a governmental function, for

injuries to property and persons; to define and limit this

liability; to define and limit the liability of the state when

engaged in a proprietary function; to authorize the purchase of

liability insurance to protect against loss arising out of this

liability; to provide for defending certain claims made against

public officers, employees, and volunteers and for paying damages

sought or awarded against them; to provide for the legal defense of

public officers, employees, and volunteers; to provide for

reimbursement of public officers and employees for certain legal

expenses; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,"

 

by amending section 2 (MCL 691.1402), as amended by 1999 PA 205.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 2. (1) Except as otherwise provided in section 2a, each

 

governmental agency having jurisdiction over a highway shall

 

maintain the highway in reasonable repair so that it is reasonably

 

safe and convenient for public travel. A person who sustains bodily

 

injury or damage to his or her property by reason of failure of a

 

governmental agency to keep a highway under its jurisdiction in

 

reasonable repair and in a condition reasonably safe and fit for

 

travel may recover the damages suffered by him or her from the

 

governmental agency. The liability, procedure, and remedy as to

 

county roads under the jurisdiction of a county road commission

 

shall be as provided in section 21 of chapter IV of 1909 PA 283,

 

MCL 224.21. The duty of the state and the county road commissions

 

to repair and maintain highways, and the liability for that duty,

 

extends only to the improved portion of the highway designed for

 

vehicular travel and does not include sidewalks, trailways,

 

crosswalks, or any other installation outside of the improved

 

portion of the highway designed for vehicular travel. The duty to

 

repair and maintain the improved portion of the highway designed

 

for vehicular travel is not limited to the physical roadbed. The

 

duty includes, but is not limited to, an obligation to provide and

 

maintain appropriate road signage, markings, and traffic control

 

devices and to properly design, construct, and maintain the

 

roadway. A judgment against the state based on a claim arising

 

under this section from acts or omissions of the state

 

transportation department is payable only from restricted funds

 

appropriated to the state transportation department or funds

 

provided by its insurer.

 

     (2) If the state transportation department contracts with

 

another governmental agency to perform work on a state trunk line

 

highway, an action brought under this section for tort liability

 

arising out of the performance of that work shall be brought only

 

against the state transportation department under the same

 

circumstances and to the same extent as if the work had been

 

performed by employees of the state transportation department. The

 

state transportation department has the same defenses to the action

 

as it would have had if the work had been performed by its own

 

employees. If an action described in this subsection could have

 

been maintained against the state transportation department, it

 

shall not be maintained against the governmental agency that

 

performed the work for the state transportation department. The

 

governmental agency also has the same defenses that could have been

 

asserted by the state transportation department had the action been

 

brought against the state transportation department.

 

     (3) The contractual undertaking of a governmental agency to

 

maintain a state trunk line highway confers contractual rights only

 

on the state transportation department and does not confer third

 

party beneficiary or other contractual rights in any other person

 

to recover damages to person or property from that governmental

 

agency. This subsection does not relieve the state transportation

 

department of liability it may have, under this section, regarding

 

that highway.

 

     (4) The duty imposed by this section on a governmental agency

 

is limited by sections 81131 and 82124 of the natural resources and

 

environmental protection act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.81131 and

 

324.82124.