Opinion ID: 1349846
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mason v. Royal Dequindre, Inc.

Text: Dan Kanka, Jim Fitzgerald, Brian Domier, and plaintiff went to a tractor pull at the Pontiac Silverdome on March 3, 1990. After leaving the Silverdome and stopping briefly at a bar, the men arrived at another bar, Dazzles. The bar is attached to a bowling lane. Both are owned by defendant Royal Dequindre, Inc. After entering, the four men separated. While Kanka was having a drink, defendant Thomas Geoffrey and his cousin approached him and renewed an old argument. Kanka testified that Geoffrey threatened to kill him. Geoffrey grasped Kanka by the hair, wrenched his jacket over his head, and began beating him. Dazzles' employees pulled Geoffrey from Kanka and ejected him from the bar. They took Kanka to a locker room at the rear of the bar and instructed him to wait until Geoffrey left the premises so as to avoid more conflict. When the fight between Kanka and Geoffrey began, plaintiff was in a different area of the bar and saw only the fight's end. Plaintiff testified that, after the passage of some time, he and the other three men decided to leave. Plaintiff and Domier went to plaintiff's car. Plaintiff drove through the parking lot to the bar's back door. Kanka and Fitzgerald had told him that they would meet him shortly. They had agreed that plaintiff would wait by the car. When Kanka did not emerge from the bar, plaintiff went in to find him. When plaintiff again left the bar, Geoffrey confronted him, demanding to know the whereabouts of Kanka. The two exchanged words. Geoffrey struck plaintiff, breaking his nose and jaw. Plaintiff brought a dram shop and premises liability action against defendant Royal Dequindre. At the close of proofs, the trial court granted defendant's motion for a directed verdict with respect to the dram shop claim. It denied the motion regarding the premises liability claim. The jury returned a verdict in plaintiff's favor for over $90,000. [1] The Court of Appeals reversed the verdict, holding that the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion for a directed verdict on the premises liability claim. It found two cases of this Court controlling: Williams v. Cunningham Drug Stores, Inc., 429 Mich. 495, 418 N.W.2d 381 (1988), and Scott v. Harper Recreation, Inc., 444 Mich. 441, 506 N.W.2d 857 (1993).