Sazima v Sheppard Bar & Restaurant, 483 Mich 924 (2009)
In this case, a majority of the new Supreme Court including Justice Hathaway, vacated their previous opinion and, effectively, held that a plaintiff who was injured while walking from her car parked along a public street to her place of employment suffered a compensable injury under the Act. In a sharp dissent authored by Justice Markman, he noted “established law simply does not support the majority’s decision to reverse our previous Order. The only basis for this reversal is supplied in previous statements by justices in the majority: ‘there is but one answer, the make up of the court. The law has not changed. Only the individuals wearing the robes have changed.’” The majority did not explain their position that seemingly overturned many years of established “course and scope” precedent.
