Orion Township Sewer Pipe Bike Death: Michigan Law on Construction Hazards on Public Paths

By Koussan Law
Published November 14, 2026, 6:37 a.m. ET

Short answer: A bicyclist died after striking a sewer bypass pipe that lay across a pedestrian safety path near Lapeer Road (M-24) in Orion Township on November 11, 2026, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. Under Michigan law, the people and organizations connected to that pipe are treated very differently: a county agency is generally immune from tort claims unless a statutory exception fits, MDOT's road-repair duty does not reach sidewalks or trailways, and a private contractor does not share the government's immunity and owes ordinary care not to create new hazards for the public. Who owned, placed, marked and inspected the pipe, and what the project's traffic control plan required, are the questions that will decide any civil claim. None of those facts has been established yet, and the sheriff's office says the crash remains under investigation.

What happened

At about 6 a.m. on Wednesday, November 11, a bicyclist riding along a pedestrian safety path struck a large bypass pipe that extended across the path, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office as reported by WDIV, Mid-Michigan NOW and WILX. The sheriff's office said the pipe was part of an Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner's Office sewer lining project being conducted within the Michigan Department of Transportation right-of-way. Reports place the crash on Axford Street near Lapeer Road, near the post office on Lapeer Road. The rider was taken to McLaren Oakland Hospital in Pontiac and later died, the sheriff's office said. The sheriff's Crash Reconstruction Unit is investigating. A family has lost someone they love, and this page explains only the law that will apply.

What we know so far

• The crash happened at about 6 a.m. on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, in Orion Township (WDIV; WXYZ).
• The rider was on a pedestrian safety path and struck "a large bypass pipe extending across the path," the sheriff's office said, as reported by WILX and Mid-Michigan NOW. WXYZ described the location as the sidewalk on Axford Street.
• The sheriff's office said the pipe was part of an Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner's Office sewer lining project within MDOT right-of-way, as reported by CBS Detroit, WILX and Mid-Michigan NOW.
• The rider was taken to McLaren Oakland Hospital in Pontiac, where he died, according to the sheriff's office as reported by CBS Detroit, WILX and Mid-Michigan NOW.
• WXYZ reported that no barricades or cones were seen blocking the sidewalk and that cones and tape were placed around the pipe afterward. A county communications officer told WWJ that "barriers and warnings" had been placed but "were found to be insufficient" (WWJ).
• Orion Township's supervisor told WWJ the work started October 26 with no notice to Orion and Oxford, and a county spokesperson said the county's standard notice procedure "wasn't followed" at the start (WWJ).
• WXYZ reported that the work was being done by a private contractor and that the rider's family says he wore a helmet and had a large headlamp (WXYZ).
• The sheriff's Crash Reconstruction Unit is investigating, and "the crash remains under investigation," according to Mid-Michigan NOW.

What has not been established

• How the crash happened, and what the sheriff's reconstruction will conclude.
• Exactly what warnings, barricades or lighting were in place at 6 a.m. on November 11. The reporting conflicts: one outlet saw none, while the county says some were placed but were insufficient.
• Who placed the pipe across the path, who was responsible for traffic control and pedestrian protection on the project, and what the contract and any permit required.
• Whether the path is a "sidewalk" as Michigan's immunity statute defines it, and which public body is responsible for maintaining it.
• Whether any claim, notice or lawsuit has been filed. None has been reported.

Can a county be sued for a hazard left by its sewer project?

Only if a statutory exception applies. The Governmental Tort Liability Act says that, except as the act provides, "a governmental agency is immune from tort liability if the governmental agency is engaged in the exercise or discharge of a governmental function" (MCL 691.1407). A county, and an office that is part of it, falls within the act's definition of a political subdivision (MCL 691.1401).

The sewer exception is about backups, not trip hazards

Michigan has a specific exception for sewer systems, but it is written for a "sewage disposal system event," which the statute defines as the overflow or backup of a sewage disposal system onto real property (MCL 691.1416; MCL 691.1417). A pipe lying across a path is a different kind of event, so that exception is unlikely to be the route for a claim like this one.

County employees and gross negligence

Individual public employees are immune unless their conduct amounts to gross negligence, defined as "conduct so reckless as to demonstrate a substantial lack of concern for whether an injury results," that is "the proximate cause" of the injury (MCL 691.1407(2) and (8)). The Michigan Supreme Court has held that "the proximate cause" means "the one most immediate, efficient, and direct cause" of the injury (Robinson v City of Detroit, 462 Mich 439 (2000)), and that the question is one of legal causation weighed among all the actors involved (Ray v Swager, 501 Mich 52 (2017)). That is a high bar, and nothing reported so far speaks to it either way.

Does MDOT's duty to maintain M-24 reach the path?

Probably not, by the statute's own terms. The highway exception requires the agency with jurisdiction to keep a highway "in reasonable repair so that it is reasonably safe and convenient for public travel," but, apart from the municipal sidewalk rule in section 2a, the duty "extends only to the improved portion of the highway designed for vehicular travel and does not include sidewalks, trailways, crosswalks, or any other installation outside of the improved portion" (MCL 691.1402). A path beside the road sits outside that improved portion.

The separate sidewalk rule applies to a "municipal corporation," which the act defines as a city, village or township, where a sidewalk is installed next to a municipal, county or state highway (MCL 691.1402a). It requires proof that the municipality knew or should have known of the defect at least 30 days before the injury, and it presumes the sidewalk was in reasonable repair unless the plaintiff shows a vertical discontinuity of 2 inches or more or "a dangerous condition in the sidewalk itself." A pipe placed on a path by another agency's project, in work the township supervisor said began October 26, does not fit that rule easily. Orion Township's supervisor told WWJ the project was the county's, not the township's.

Can the contractor be held responsible?

A private contractor is in a different position from the government. The immunity statute protects governmental agencies and their officers, employees, volunteers and board members (MCL 691.1407); a private company working under a public contract is not on that list.

Contracting with the county does not erase the duty owed to the public

The Michigan Supreme Court held in Loweke v Ann Arbor Ceiling & Partition Co, 489 Mich 157 (2011) that "a contracting party's assumption of contractual obligations does not extinguish or limit separately existing common-law or statutory tort duties owed to noncontracting third parties." The Court described the common-law rule that every person carrying out an undertaking must "use due care" so as not to "unreasonably endanger the person or property of others," and it pointed to an earlier case in which a contractor was answerable for creating a "new hazard" while doing its contracted work. Whether that duty was breached here depends on facts not yet known: who put the pipe on the path, when, what warning and lighting the work required at that hour, and what was actually in place.

Fault is shared, not all or nothing

If a claim is brought, a jury allocates fault among everyone whose conduct contributed, including people who are not parties (MCL 600.2957). A rider's own fault reduces damages but does not bar recovery; if the rider's fault is greater than everyone else's combined, noneconomic damages are not awarded (MCL 600.2958; MCL 600.2959). Michigan treats whether a hazard was open and obvious as a comparative fault question rather than a bar to the claim, under Kandil-Elsayed v F & E Oil, Inc, 512 Mich 95 (2023). Reported details such as the hour, the color of the pipe, and the rider's helmet and headlamp would all matter to that allocation.

What the public record shows

MDOT's own project announcements identify the road as "M-24 (Lapeer Road)" through Orion Township and the Village of Lake Orion, a state trunkline; the department's 2020 rebuilding project ran from Goldengate Street in Orion Township to Harriet Street in Oxford Township (MDOT, April 21, 2020). That matters because the sheriff's office placed the sewer work inside MDOT right-of-way: the state is the road authority, but the work was a county project, and the state's road-repair duty stops at the improved portion of the road designed for vehicles. The public record does not show who maintains the path itself.

Evidence that matters and how fast it can disappear

There is no federal retention rule for this kind of work zone like the record rules that apply to commercial trucks. The most important evidence is the scene as it was at 6 a.m. on November 11, and WXYZ reported that cones and tape were added around the pipe afterward. Records that would show what happened include:

• The project contract, specifications and any traffic control or pedestrian accommodation plan.
• Daily logs, inspection reports and photographs kept by the county, its engineers and the contractor, including when the bypass pipe was placed across the path.
• Any MDOT right-of-way permit for the work and the conditions attached to it.
• The sheriff's crash reconstruction file, scene photographs and 911 records.
• Business and residential camera video near Lapeer Road and Axford Street, which may be overwritten.
• Complaints from residents before November 11; a resident told WXYZ, "We weren't notified this was coming."

Michigan courts can sanction a party that fails to preserve evidence, and a jury may infer that lost evidence was unfavorable (Brenner v Kolk, 226 Mich App 149 (1997)). Michigan does not recognize a separate lawsuit against a third party for destroying evidence (Teel v Meredith, 284 Mich App 660 (2009)), so early written preservation requests matter.

Who could be legally responsible

These are possibilities only. Nothing reported establishes fault by anyone.

• The contractor doing the work, if it placed or left the pipe across an open path without the warnings, barricades or lighting the conditions called for. It has no governmental immunity.
• Subcontractors or traffic control companies, if one of them was responsible for pedestrian protection on the project.
• Oakland County, only if a statutory exception to immunity fits, which is uncertain for a hazard of this kind.
• Individual public employees, only on proof of gross negligence that was "the proximate cause" of the death.
• MDOT or the township, which face statutory limits: MDOT's road duty does not include sidewalks or trailways, and the township's sidewalk duty turns on notice and the condition of the sidewalk itself.

Michigan deadlines that apply

Government notice deadlines are short and strictly enforced, and they are not extended by the estate rule. The Michigan injury deadline calculator shows how the general periods run.

Questions people are asking

Does Michigan no-fault insurance pay when a bicyclist is hurt with no car involved? Usually not. Personal protection insurance pays for accidental bodily injury "arising out of the ownership, operation, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle as a motor vehicle" (MCL 500.3105; statute explorer). A crash between a bicycle and a fixed object generally does not meet that test, so health insurance and any liability claim carry more weight.

Is a contractor protected because it was working for the county? Not by the immunity statute, which covers governmental agencies and their officers, employees, volunteers and board members. A contractor's duty to use reasonable care toward the public exists alongside its contract (Loweke).

Does the sheriff's investigation decide who is liable? No. Investigators report what they find, and prosecutors decide whether any charge is warranted. A civil case is decided on its own evidence, under civil rules of fault, by a judge or jury.

What can a family recover in a Michigan wrongful death case? The statute allows medical, funeral and burial expenses, conscious pain and suffering before death, lost financial support, and loss of society and companionship (MCL 600.2922). In 2024 the Michigan Supreme Court held that the lost future earning capacity of the person who died is not recoverable (Daher v Prime Healthcare Services-Garden City, Docket No. 165377, July 30, 2024).

If you are dealing with a situation like this

When someone is badly hurt or killed by a hazard left in a work zone, the first questions are who controlled the site, which public bodies were involved, and which notice deadlines have already started to run. A free consultation can sort out those questions and what records to request. Koussan Law handles bicycle accident, wrongful death and sidewalk trip and fall claims, and our guide to bicycle accident claims in Michigan and our wrongful death guide explain more. Call (313) 800-0000 or request a free consultation. We have offices in Detroit, Dearborn Heights and Marquette, and we work in English, Spanish and Arabic.

Sources

1. WDIV ClickOnDetroit, "Sheriff's office investigating crash involving bicyclist, sewer equipment in Orion Township," November 11, 2026.
2. WXYZ, "Bicyclist critically hurt after hitting unmarked sewer pipe on Orion Township sidewalk in the dark," November 11, 2026.
3. WXYZ, follow-up report on the township's and county's statements, November 12, 2026.
4. WWJ Newsradio 950, report on the Oakland County construction zone crash, November 12, 2026.
5. Mid-Michigan NOW, "Police investigating bicycle crash," November 13, 2026.
6. Michigan Department of Transportation, "Restore M-24 (Lapeer Road) project begins in northern Oakland County," April 21, 2020.

Primary law cited: MCL 691.1401, MCL 691.1402, MCL 691.1402a, MCL 691.1404, MCL 691.1407, MCL 691.1416, MCL 691.1417, MCL 500.3105, MCL 600.2922, MCL 600.2957, MCL 600.2958, MCL 600.2959, MCL 600.5805, MCL 600.5852, MCL 600.6431; Loweke v Ann Arbor Ceiling & Partition Co, 489 Mich 157 (2011); Robinson v City of Detroit, 462 Mich 439 (2000); Ray v Swager, 501 Mich 52 (2017); Brenner v Kolk, 226 Mich App 149 (1997); Teel v Meredith, 284 Mich App 660 (2009).