Opinion ID: 842398
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: bush v. oscoda area schools

Text: The issue in Bush, among others, was whether the defendant public school district, its superintendent, a principal, and a classroom teacher were liable under the public building exception. Bush, 405 Mich. at 724-725, 275 N.W.2d 268. The plaintiff high school student was enrolled in an introductory physical science class. Id. at 725, 275 N.W.2d 268. Although the class regularly met in a chemical laboratory equipped with safety features, because of increased enrollment, it met in a nonlaboratory room. Id. The temporary classroom lacked gas lines and gas-fired burners. Id. at 726, 275 N.W.2d 268. The students had to fill portable alcohol burners at a counter and carry them to and from their desks. Id. It was while the plaintiff student was returning her burner to the counter that an explosion occurred and she was enveloped in flames, suffering severe burns. During the lawsuit that followed, the plaintiffs alleged that the temporary laboratory was dangerous and defective because of the improper design of the room and the absence of safety devices. Id. at 730-731, 275 N.W.2d 268. In order to determine whether the plaintiffs' complaint was within the public building exception to governmental immunity, it was necessary to interpret MCL 691.1406. Writing for the Court, Justice Charles Levin stated: We construe the defective building provision as we have the defective highway provision. Governmental agencies are subject to liability for a dangerous or defective condition of a public building without regard to whether it arises out of a failure to repair and maintain. As in the highway cases, a building may be dangerous or defective because of improper design, faulty construction or the absence of safety devices. [ Bush, 405 Mich. at 730, 275 N.W.2d 268.] On the basis of its interpretation of the statute, the Bush Court concluded that the plaintiffs' complaint had sufficiently stated a claim upon which relief could be granted. Id. at 733, 275 N.W.2d 268. The Court remanded the case to the trial court. Id. It was left to the trier of fact the determination whether, among other things, the classroom was defective when used as a physical science laboratory. Id. at 732, 275 N.W.2d 268. Integral to the holding was Bush 's determination that a public building may fall within the exception to governmental immunity as dangerous or defective because of improper design. Therefore, the language cited from Bush was, by definition, not dicta and constitutes binding precedent. For the past 28 years, our courts have relied on that reasoning from Bush. In the years immediately following Bush, the Michigan Court of Appeals cited the case numerous times for the proposition that a design defect claim is actionable under the public building exception to governmental immunity. See Lee v. Highland Park School Dist., 118 Mich.App. 305, 324 N.W.2d 632. 309; 118 Mich.App. 305, 324 N.W.2d 632 (1982); Young v. City of Ann Arbor, 119 Mich.App. 512, 520-521, 326 N.W.2d 547 (1982); Landry v. Detroit, 143 Mich.App. 16, 22, 371 N.W.2d 466 (1985).