In a case brought to the Michigan Supreme Court by Carson J. Tucker in 2008, Odom v. Wayne County, a seminal (and essentially unanimous) decision and a lasting jurisprudential pillar of governmental tort liability law in Michigan, the Court interpreted the "subjective, good-faith" exception to intentional tort and gross-negligence claims found in Michigan's Governmental Tort [...]
Tag: law enforcement
Michigan High Court to Address Scope of “Gross Negligence” Exception to Governmental Immunity
In an order issued on December 23, 2014, the Michigan Supreme Court has granted oral argument to consider the state's application in this wrongful death case. (Estate of Beals.Order). The plaintiff is the estate of an individual who was a student at a state technical college that provided vocational and technical training to individuals with [...]
Lego v. Liss – State Files Appeal in Governmental Immunity Case Involving “Friendly Fire” Incident
Last week, the state of Michigan filed an Application for Leave to Appeal in the Michigan Supreme Court challenging the Court of Appeals (majority) opinion in this case Lego v. Liss, holding that a police officer could be subject to liability (and not immune) in an incident in which the officer shot another police officer [...]
Michigan Supreme Court Denies Leave in Two of Three Cases Pending to Address Legal Causation Under No-Fault Act for Motorcycle Accidents
Last week I filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in the State Farm v. MMRMA case pending on application to the Michigan Supreme Court. As I mentioned in my last post, there were two other cases, both pending on applications to the Court, which asked the Court to deal with the same [...]
Police Chief Absolutely Immune for Conducting Arrest Under Michigan Governmental Immunity Provisions
On June 20, 2013, the Michigan Supreme Court issued a 3-2 Opinion (Justices McCormack and Viviano not participating) holding that “absolute immunity” for executive level government officials applied as well to the performance by these officials of the duties and powers that subordinate governmental employees have in the same governmental department. This is a remarkable [...]