This case involves long-running desegregation litigation concerning the Benton Harbor Area School District and interdistrict transfer programs with neighboring districts. The court denied motions to exclude expert testimony from witnesses on both sides. It granted the school district and state defendants' motions for unitary status, thereby abrogating most prior remedial and injunctive orders while preserving limited ongoing obligations related to student transportation, funding formulas, and pupil membership counts that phase out over several years. The court dismissed the case with prejudice but retained jurisdiction over attorney fees and costs.
This case concerned whether the Grand Traverse Band could legally operate Class III gaming at its Turtle Creek Casino under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). The Band sought a declaratory judgment that the facility was lawful, while the State of Michigan intervened to argue that the operations violated IGRA and the tribal-state compact because the land was acquired after 1988 and lacked required approvals. Following a bench trial, the court held that the Turtle Creek site qualified for the restored-lands exception under 25 U.S.C. § 2719(b)(1)(B)(iii) as lands taken into trust in connection with the Band's restoration to federal recognition, making the gaming lawful. The court also rejected the State's compact claim, finding that the agreement did not extend the Governor's concurrence power to restored-lands sites. Judgment was entered for the Band.
This case was a diversity action by United Rentals against former employee Jerry Keizer, Grant Rent-All, and related parties, alleging breach of a five-year employment agreement with a non-compete clause, violation of the Michigan Trade Secrets Act, tortious interference with business relations and contract, civil conspiracy, and breach of fiduciary duty, along with Keizer's counterclaim for breach of the employment agreement. The court granted summary judgment to the defendants on all claims against them and to United Rentals on the counterclaim, while denying United Rentals' motion on its breach count. The core reasoning was that the non-compete agreement expressly excluded Newaygo County (where Grant Rent-All primarily operated and where the parties knew of Keizer's interest at signing), the integrated employment agreement was not breached by Keizer's conduct, and there was no evidence supporting the other claims such as trade secret misappropriation or interference.
business & regulatorylabor & employmenttorts & liabilityprocedure
This case is a 35-year-old school desegregation lawsuit that began in 1967 when African American students in the Benton Harbor Area School District sued local and state education officials over discriminatory practices that created unlawful segregation. Liability was established in the 1970s, leading to a 1981 remedial desegregation plan that included student transfers, magnet programs, faculty reassignment, and achievement initiatives, which was implemented under court supervision for over two decades. The Benton Harbor district and Michigan state defendants moved for unitary status to terminate oversight, opposed by the plaintiff class. After sixteen days of testimony and review of extensive evidence, the court granted the motions, concluding that the defendants had complied with the remedial order, eliminated the vestiges of past discrimination to the extent practicable, and that current achievement gaps were attributable to poverty rather than ongoing segregative effects.
This case concerned a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee's attempt to avoid Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation's security interest in a mobile home that qualified as a fixture on the debtors' real property. The bankruptcy court granted summary judgment to the trustee, ruling that Chase had not perfected its interest because it failed to obtain a corrected certificate of title under the Michigan Mobile Home Commission Act. On appeal, the district court reversed and held that the lien was not avoidable. The court reasoned that the MHCA's titling requirements apply only to UCC financing statements for mobile homes and do not displace the ordinary rule that a properly recorded real estate mortgage perfects a security interest in fixtures attached to the property.
This case concerns liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for cleanup costs at a severely contaminated chemical manufacturing site in Muskegon, Michigan. After a Supreme Court remand establishing standards for parent company operator liability, the court determined that CPC International, Inc. was not liable as an operator of the facility run by its subsidiary. The decision rested on findings that CPC did not directly manage or control the plant's operations, with the subsidiary maintaining independent control, and no evidence showing CPC's direct involvement in the polluting activities.
