## Facts

- Northern Michigan University (NMU) kept an administration building open to public use while renovations were underway.
- Gerald Kerbersky, a contractor’s welder/carpenter, was working on the renovation on August 10, 1990.
- Kerbersky fell from a permanently attached ladder leading to the roof area of the building.
- Plaintiffs alleged the ladder was defectively installed, including improper spacing from the wall and a conduit beneath the ladder frame, violating safety codes.
- The roof area where the fall occurred was restricted and not open for general public use.

## Issues

1. Whether Michigan’s public building exception to governmental immunity applies when a person lawfully present is injured by an alleged defect in a public building that is open to the public, even though the injury occurs in an area not open to the general public.
2. Whether a construction worker lawfully on the premises can be treated as a “member of the public” for purposes of the public building exception.

## Decision

- The Michigan Supreme Court reversed summary disposition for NMU and its employees and reversed the Court of Appeals.
- The Court held the public building exception can be invoked by a lawful entrant injured by a defective condition of a public building open to the public, even if the injury occurs in a nonpublic area of the building.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings.

## Legal Principles

- Under Mich. Comp. Laws § 691.1406, liability may attach for injuries resulting from a dangerous or defective condition of a public building when statutory elements are satisfied.
- The statute does not impose a requirement that the specific area of the building where the injury occurs be open to general public use, so long as the building itself is a public building open to the public.
- Persons lawfully on the premises, including construction workers present due to contracted work, are not categorically excluded from invoking the public building exception.
- A permanently affixed structural component (such as an attached ladder used for access) may qualify as part of the “public building” for purposes of the exception, as distinguished from hazards not fairly characterized as part of the building.

## Conclusion

The Michigan Supreme Court held that the public building exception to governmental immunity may apply when a lawful entrant is injured by an alleged defect in a public building that is open to the public, even if the accident occurs in a restricted, nonpublic area of that building, and it remanded for continued litigation under the statutory framework.


Kerbersky v. N. Mich. Univ., 458 Mich. 525, 582 N.W.2d 828 (1998)