DETROIT (CelebrityAccess) An appellate court has held up the original court decision that Live Nation nor the Michigan International Speedway are responsible for an injury sustained by a patron at the 2016 Faster Horses country music fest after she walked into an unlit, wooded area of the grounds and fell into a ravine.
Brandi Roe claims that on Friday, July 16, she was part of a group that camped at the M-50 Creekside campsite and began playing beer pong and cornhole around 1 p.m. and went to watch the bands around 5 p.m. At some point, she and a companion separated from the rest of the group and stayed until the end of the last act, around 11:30 p.m.
“Plaintiff testified at her deposition that she had begun drinking beer and mixed vodka drinks at the campsite around 1:00 p.m. and had continued drinking consistently throughout the day and during her time at Faster Horses,” the State of Michigan Court of Appeals said in its decision. Roe and her companion decided to forego waiting in line for the portable restroom and instead walked to a wooded area. Her companion went into the area to relieve himself.
“Shortly thereafter, plaintiff heard her companion start calling out for her,” the court said. “Without looking, plaintiff ventured after him. After taking ‘about two steps’
into the wooded area, plaintiff fell down a ravine into a creek bed and broke her ankle.”
Roe’s original complaint argued that it would have been reasonable for Live Nation and the speedway to warn concertgoers of the uneven terrain.
According to the court, “We conclude that an average person of ordinary intelligence would have, upon casual inspection, been able to discover and appreciate the danger and risk associated with venturing off a well-lit pathway intended for pedestrian ingress and egress in order to enter a dark, wooded area with possible varied terrain at night. Accordingly, based on the record before this Court, we conclude that the trial court did not err in concluding that the hazardous condition was open and obvious, that a reasonable person in plaintiff’s position would have foreseen the danger, and that MIS and Live Nation were entitled to summary disposition of plaintiff’s claim.”
Accordingly, based on the record before the court, it concluded that the trial court did not err and that a “reasonable person in the plaintiff’s position” would have foreseen the danger.”
