Daily Briefs

 Sour outcome: Woman who slipped on lemon at bar loses appeal

 

DETROIT (AP) — A woman who said she was injured after slipping on a lemon wedge has failed to revive her lawsuit against a popular Detroit tavern.

The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision in favor of Old Shillelagh.

Connie Nagel said she slipped on a lemon wedge and fell in 2018, injuring herself. She claimed to have seen several people slipping on spilled drinks and that the lemon was on the floor for a while after her fall.

But the appeals court said Nagel failed to show that Old Shillelagh staff actually knew that the lemon had created a dangerous condition.

Nagel also “provided no evidence to show that defendant’s employees caused the lemon wedge to be on the floor,” the court said in a 3-0 opinion Thursday. 

Nagel said the bar’s surveillance video from the incident was missing.

“It is unknown whether it even captured plaintiff’s fall, demonstrated the lighting conditions of the bar, or otherwise might have aided the factfinder in determining the issue of liability,” the appeals court said.

Court: Emails between judge, prosecutor didn’t spoil trial

ALLEGAN, Mich. (AP) — A man convicted of criminal sexual conduct doesn’t deserve a new trial despite learning that the judge was sharing her opinion of the case through emails with the county prosecutor, the Michigan Court of Appeals said.

Daniel Loew had been granted a new trial, but the 2-1 decision by the appeals court reversed that decision Thursday.
“The record does not support even an inference that the emails provided any advantage or altered any tactics by the prosecution,” the court said.

An Allegan County jury in 2019 convicted Loew of criminal sexual conduct. Judge Margaret Zuzich-Bakker sentenced him to at least 20 years in prison.

It turned out that the judge had sent emails to prosecutor Myrene Koch during the trial, asking a question about the victim and offering an unflattering opinion about state police.

“This trooper didn’t do a very good investigation. Don’t they have detectives anymore?” Zuzich-Bakker said.

Koch said she wasn’t directly involved in Loew’s trial and didn’t share the judge’s opinions with an assistant prosecutor.

The emails were obtained by Michael Villar, who challenged Koch in the 2020 Republican primary but lost by 17 votes.


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