COA reverses hotel spider bite case.

Byline: Thomas Franz

A Michigan Court of Appeals panel reversed a Washtenaw Circuit Court ruling that granted summary disposition in a hotel spider bite case.

In Heuschneider v. Wolverine Superior Hospitality (MiLW No. 08-100426, 4 pages), the COA remanded the case by determining that a question of fact existed if the hotel breached its duty for pest control management.

"The innkeeper doctrine said an innkeeper has a duty to keep their rooms free of pests," said plaintiff's attorney David R. Parker of Charfoos & Christensen PC in Royal Oak.

Judges Cynthia Diane Stephens, Elizabeth L. Gleicher and Mark T. Boonstra ruled unanimously in the unpublished opinion.

Background

The case stems from a spider bite that the plaintiff sustained while staying at a Comfort Inn in Ann Arbor.

According to the COA's opinion, the plaintiff said emergency room doctors informed him that he was bitten by a brown recluse spider. They determined this after seeing how the plaintiff's body reacted to the spider's venom.

He sustained a left leg abscess, cellulitis of the left leg wound, necrosis of the left leg wound, deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary emboli, pleural effusion, pulmonary infarction, multiple surgeries to his leg and chest, weeks of inpatient hospitalization, and rehabilitation.

Legal action

The plaintiff filed a suit based on four theories: innkeeper's liability, premises liability, ordinary negligence and nuisance. He claimed that the defendant had a duty to provide reasonably safe accommodations and they failed to protect or warn guests of the dangerous condition.

That was the basis for the plaintiff's argument that the defendant's failure to maintain the accommodations proximately caused the spider bite.

The defendant filed a motion for summary disposition and argued the plaintiff was unable to produce competent evidence showing that the alleged spider didn't arrive in the hotel room by way of the plaintiff's own clothing or luggage.

The COA also wrote that the defendant also argued no duty to the plaintiff under the doctrine of ferae naturae, which asserts that landowners cannot be held liable for the actions of wild animals on their property unless the animals were in the landowner's possession or control.

The trial court granted the motion for summary disposition.

Analysis

The COA panel cited Upthegrove v. Myers (1980) to state that "an innkeeper has a duty to protect guests from injury. The innkeeper must exercise ordinary care and prudence to...