Man hurt by tile falling from the ceiling at Cobo Hall cannot sue the City of Detroit

A ceiling tile fell and struck Franklin White while he was delivering newspapers inside the City-owned Cobo Hall.  A report was filed, however, White did not consider his injuries serious and did not investigate further.  His neck problems worsened over the next few months, however, and he had to undergo surgery four months after the incident.  When he attempted to sue the City, his case was dismissed because he could not prove that the City had notice of the ceiling problem sufficiently in advance to have repaired it. He claimed that city workers made remarks on the day of the injury which suggested that the ceiling problem was not new, however, these were determined not to be admissions against interest, because he could not identify the workers or substantiate the workers' scope of employment.