Case Name: SCHRAM v. LaROWE
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1977-03-30
Citations: 74 Mich. App. 555
Docket Number: Docket No. 27371
Parties: SCHRAM v LaROWE
Judges: Before: D. C. Riley, P. J., and T. M. Burns and Beasley, JJ.
Reporter: Michigan appeals reports; cases decided in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Volume: 74
Pages: 555–559

Head Matter:
SCHRAM v LaROWE
Opinion op the Court
1. Judgment—Summary Judgment—Negligence—Factual Cause— Proximate Cause—Motions.
Factual and proximate causation are material facts in a negligence action; a trial court may not make findings of fact that a piece of metal causing injury to a plaintiff did not come from the defendants’ shed, as alleged in the complaint, when ruling on a motion for summary judgment in a slip and fall case alleging failure to state a genuine issue of material fact (GCR 1963, 117.2[3]).
Dissent by D. C. Riley, P. J.
2. Judgment—Summary Judgment—Failure to State Issue—Negligence—Burden of Proof.
It was not improper for a trial court to grant summary judgment for failure to present a genuine issue of material fact in a negligence action, where the court determined from the pleadings and depositions submitted and a consideration of the physical realities, as interpreted most favorably to the plaintiff, that the plaintiff could not sustain her burden of proof.
References for Points in Headnotes
[1] 57 Am Jur 2d, Negligence §§ 136, 137.
[2] 61 Am Jur 2d, Pleading § 71 et seq.
73 Am Jur 2d, Summary Judgment §§ 17, 26 et seq.
Appeal from Ingham, James T. Kallman, J.
Submitted February 2, 1977, at Lansing.
(Docket No. 27371.)
Decided March 30, 1977.
Leave to appeal applied for.
Complaint by Avis Schram against Ronald La-Rowe and Tamera LaRowe for damages resulting from a slip and fall. Summary judgment for defendants. Plaintiff appeals.
Reversed.
Thomas Rasmusson, for plaintiff.
Willingham, Coté, Hanslovsky, Griffith & Fores-man, P. C., for defendant.
Before: D. C. Riley, P. J., and T. M. Burns and Beasley, JJ.

Opinion:
T. M. Burns, J.
Plaintiff appeals from a January 14, 1976 order of summary judgment granted the defendants for failure of plaintiff to present a genuine issue of material fact. GCR 1963, 117.2(3).
Plaintiff fell after slipping on a piece of metal she claims came from defendants' shed, which had fallen down some time before plaintiff's fall. Defendants claimed that the piece of metal did not and could not have come from their shed. The trial court agreed with the defendants.
Factual and proximate causation are material facts in a negligence action. Plaintiff alleged that she slipped on a piece of metal that came from defendants' shed. Defendants denied that the piece of metal came from their shed. There was thus a genuine issue. The trial court's ruling could not have been made without the finding of fact that the piece of metal did not. come from the defendants' shed. Such fact-finding is improper and reversibly erroneous when ruling on a motion for summary judgment under GCR 1963, 117.2(3). Baker v City of Detroit, 73 Mich App 67; 250 NW2d 543 (1976).
We therefore reverse the order of the trial court and remand this cause for trial.
Costs of this appeal to the plaintiff.
Beasley, J., concurred.