Neel v. Sewell
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
834 F. Supp. 2d 648 (2011)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
Seventeen-year-old Brandon Neel (plaintiff) helped his father, David Evans (defendant) and aunt clean out the home of his step-grandmother, Beverly Sewell (defendant). The group started a backyard fire to burn the trash they gathered while cleaning. One bag of trash contained an aerosol can and when the bag was placed on the fire, it exploded, causing Neel to suffer severe burns. Neel sued his father and grandmother in federal district court, seeking damages for his physical and emotional injuries. In his complaint, Neel alleged that his father negligently supervised him by failing to maintain adequate standards for the safe disposal of flammable materials and failing to instruct Neel about proper safety practices. Evans moved for summary judgment, arguing that under Michigan law, a parent could not be liable to a child for negligent supervision.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Rosen, C.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 802,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
