Court Opinion

ID: 9504405
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 19:56:25.64634+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:03:59.947388
License: Public Domain

Cavanagh, J.
(concurring in result only). I concur in the result reached by the majority. However, I write separately because I would reach that result regardless of whether the doctrines of retained control and common work area are separate doctrines. I agree with the majority that the trial court’s grant of summary disposition to both defendants should be reinstated because the dispositive issues in this case are not affected by whether the doctrines are separate or one is subordinate to the other. I, however, cannot join the majority because this Court has routinely treated the doctrines of retained control and common work area as two separate and distinct doctrines. See Plummer v Bechtel Constr Co, 440 Mich 646; 489 NW2d 66 (1992); Groncki v Detroit Edison Co, 453 Mich 644; 557 NW2d 289 (1996).
Regardless of whether the doctrine of retained control is subordinate to or separate from the common work area doctrine, it is only applicable to property owners, and because neither defendant Capital nor defendant Monarch is the property owner, the trial court was correct to grant each defendant’s motion for summary disposition with respect to the doctrine of retained control.
Further, the common work area doctrine does not apply to subcontractors, thus the trial court was correct to grant defendant Capital’s motion for summary disposition with respect to common work area liability. See Funk v Gen Motors Corp, 392 Mich 91, 104; 220 NW2d 641 (1974). The trial court was also correct to grant defendant Monarch’s motion for summary disposition with respect to the common work area doctrine. Re*62gardless of when the danger to a significant number of workers must exist, plaintiff failed to show that a genuine issue of material fact existed about whether there was danger creating a high degree of risk to a significant number of workers. Because plaintiff failed to establish a genuine issue of material fact and because defendant Monarch was entitled to judgment as a matter of law, the trial court was correct to grant defendant Monarch’s motion for summary disposition. Thus, I concur in the result only.