Court Opinion

ID: 9535556
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:50:49.809876+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:16.957113
License: Public Domain

Hood, P.J.
(concurring in part and dissenting in part). I must respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which holds that the rationale of Williams v Cunningham Drug Stores, Inc, 429 Mich 495; 418 NW2d 381 (1988), is inapplicable to the situation described in this case.
In Milo v Guardian Guard Services, Inc, 176 Mich App 657, 660; 440 NW2d 5 (1988), this Court relied upon Williams in refusing to find that a merchant’s security guard had a duty to intercede in an armed robbery. The Court explained:
Plaintiffs claim that defendants owed the duty to deter and intercede in the criminal acts of another is tantamount to a claim that defendants had a duty to provide police protection against the criminal acts of others, which Williams expressly disapproved. In Marr v Yousif, 167 Mich App 358, 364; 422 NW2d 4 (1988), this Court followed Williams in holding that commercial enterprises are under no duty to provide armed and uniformed security guards to deter and intercede in armed robberies. The Marr Court noted that to hold otherwise would be to impose strict liability in the guise of negligence. Id.
In this case, by finding that the service station attendant owed a duty to intervene in the assault on plaintiff, the majority is in effect requiring him *449to provide what is tantamount to police protection against the criminal acts of third parties. I do not believe that the fact that the assault was initiated by an off-duty employee of the station alters the situation. Because the duty to provide police protection is vested in the government and cannot be transferred to commercial business, I would find that the attendant owed no duty to intervene. Williams, supra, 429 Mich 501-502; Milo, supra. Absent such a duty, defendants may not be held liable for injuries sustained by plaintiff as a result of the beating.