April 10, 2026
The April 8 line of storms knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of Michigan customers and dropped trees on cars, houses, and people. Property owners are already invoking 'act of God.' That defense is narrower than they're claiming.
An act of God defense requires that the event was so unforeseeable and extraordinary that no reasonable preparation would have prevented the harm. A spring thunderstorm in Michigan does not qualify. Michigan has hundreds of severe storms per year. They're foreseeable as a category, even if the exact date isn't.
What courts ask is: did the property owner do what a reasonable owner would have done to prepare? Was the danger one they should have known about? In most storm-injury cases, the answer is the property owner had warning and didn't act.
Most spring-storm injury cases we see involve falling trees or limbs. The legal question is whether the tree was dead, diseased, or visibly compromised before the storm. If it was, the property owner is responsible for the damage it caused when it came down.
We hire arborists in these cases. An arborist can examine the stump or remaining trunk months later and tell us whether the tree had pre-existing rot, prior limb failures, or visible decline. If it did, the property owner's defense crumbles.
Some of the most serious storm cases involve downed power lines. DTE, Consumers Energy, and other utilities can be liable for failure to maintain right-of-way clearance, failure to trim trees near lines, and failure to de-energize quickly when lines go down.
These are big cases. Utilities have deep pockets and aggressive defense firms. They're winnable when the negligence is documented — vegetation management logs, complaint history, internal maintenance schedules.
Storefronts, parking lots, apartment complexes — commercial property owners have a higher duty of care to invitees. Loose signage, unsecured patio furniture, inadequately maintained roofing, and parking lot debris are all foreseeable storm hazards.
If something flew off a commercial building and hit you, that's not an act of God. That's a failure of maintenance.
Photograph the scene. The fallen tree, the downed line, the airborne sign — whatever caused your injury. Photograph the surrounding property: did the tree look healthy? Were there warning signs that were missed? Get witness contact info.
Call the police and get a report, even if no vehicles were involved. Then see a doctor. Spinal compression injuries from being struck by falling objects can be subtle in the first 48 hours.
If the property owner or utility is telling you 'it was an act of God, nothing we could do,' get a second opinion. The defense is narrower than they want you to think. Free consultation.
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