Court Clears Michigan Storage Owner in Customer’s Death

The owner of an Ann Arbor self-storage business has been cleared of liability in the death of a customer who accidentally locked himself in a car trunk.

The Michigan appeals court last week overturned a decision by a Washtenaw County judge and dismissed a lawsuit in the death of Anthony Lagos in 2005.

Lagos’ estate had argued that William Davis III was negligent in not discovering that Lagos was trapped inside his 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. He stored the car at Maple Village Self Storage in Ann Arbor and took it for rides.

Lagos apparently was inside the trunk fixing a taillight when the trunk closed on him. The appeals court says Davis had no duty to try to open the car trunk.