Two men who were stabbed outside of a Detroit casino had their negligence claim tossed by a panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals.

The trial court agreed with the men who argued the casino’s response to an altercation by security personnel was negligent, and denied the casino’s motion for summary disposition.

But the appeals court said the casino fulfilled its legal duty as a merchant to respond to the incident, citing a clear-cut Michigan Supreme Court decision.

“The seminal case defining a merchant’s duty to respond is MacDonald v PKT, Inc.,” the panel explained. “There, our Supreme Court reaffirmed that ‘a merchant has no obligation generally to anticipate and prevent criminal acts against its invitees.’”

The unpublished decision, McBroom v. Greektown Casino LLC (MiLW 08-106302, 5 pages), was issued by Judges Mark J. Cavanagh, Kirsten Frank Kelly and Kristina Robinson Garrett.