Bill Text: MI HB5937 | 2013-2014 | 97th 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) 2014-11-13 - Printed Bill Filed 11/13/2014 [HB5937 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2013-HB5937-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 5937

 

November 12, 2014, Introduced by Rep. Irwin and referred to the Committee on Local Government.

 

     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 2012 PA 50.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 2. (1) Each A governmental agency having that has

 

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 because of the 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.

 

Except as provided in section 2a, the duty of a governmental agency

 

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 road signage, markings, and traffic control devices and to

 

properly design, construct, and maintain the roadway. A judgment

 

against the this 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) A municipal corporation has no duty to repair or maintain,

 

and is not liable for injuries or damages arising from, a portion

 

of a county or state highway.

 

     (3) 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 the 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.

 

     (4) 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 the governmental

 

agency. This subsection does not relieve the state transportation

 

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

 

that the highway.

 

     (5) 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.