Haider Kazim and Matt Cross, partners in our Traverse City office, recently obtained a decisive ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The Court granted summary judgment in favor of several law enforcement officers and a county government, ending a civil rights lawsuit stemming from a 2021 arrest during a high-risk response to a shots-fired call. The case arose from an incident in a rural […]

When it comes to trademarks, The Ohio State University plays defense as aggressively as it does on Saturdays in the Horseshoe. This fall, instead of blitzing Michigan’s offense, the Buckeyes are tackling The Brown Jug, Inc. of Ann Arbor, which filed to register BUCKEYE TEARS for beer and liquor. OSU’s opposition (TTAB Opp. No. 91301291) is now pending, with an answer due October 6, 2025. Think of it as a […]

Shane Nolan, a partner in our Livonia office, recently obtained summary disposition in a premises liability case on behalf of a southeast Michigan township. The case involved the “sidewalk exception” to governmental immunity. The case arose from a trip and fall on a public sidewalk, where the Plaintiff alleged that the township did not properly maintain their sidewalk and sought damages for injuries sustained from her fall. Mr. Nolan moved […]

Matt Cross and Greg Grant, partners in our Traverse City office, recently obtained summary disposition in a case involving novel claims under the Open Meetings Act (OMA). The claims stemmed from a separate lawsuit involving a Northern Michigan county, which was also ultimately dismissed by a federal court. The county went into closed session to discuss a settlement proposal, which prompted the OMA claims arguing that the county improperly went […]

Greg Grant and Matt Cross, partners in our Traverse City office, recently obtained summary disposition in a premises liability case involving a Northern Michigan condominium association. The claim involved a visitor to Traverse City, who slipped and fell on ice in the condominium association’s parking lot. The association had relied upon a snow removal contractor to address the accumulation of snow and ice in the parking lot. While the contractor’s […]

Please join us in welcoming Paul Leonidas Lin to the Firm. He has joined CMDA as an attorney in the Firm’s Riverside office where he focuses his practice on defending public entities in civil litigation, including municipal law and insurance defense. He manages all phases of litigation, from initial case assessment and strategic planning through discovery management, substantive motion practice, and preparation for hearings and trials. He draws on over […]

Greg Grant, a partner in our Traverse City office, recently obtained dismissal in a negligence case against a Northern Michigan defendant. In the case, the female plaintiff was dancing on the dance floor at an employee holiday party at a large Northern Michigan resort. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant, a younger male, was also dancing when he fell backward and onto plaintiff resulting in a broken foot. The plaintiff […]

Matt Cross, a partner in our Traverse City office, recently obtained summary disposition of a premises liability claim against a northern Michigan municipal client. The case involved a trip and fall at a public library. In granting summary disposition, the court affirmed that the “public building exception” to governmental immunity does not extend to temporary or movable items within a public building. This ruling reinforces that municipalities generally maintain immunity […]

In a recent matter, Attorneys Matt Cross and Greg Grant successfully obtained dismissal of a property dispute that centered on the conveyance of a county-owned park to a neighboring township. The plaintiffs, who resided on property bordering the park, argued that the county violated their right to due process by conveying the property in the manner they did. In their depositions, the plaintiffs acknowledged that their opposition was communicated to […]

Attorneys Haider Kazim and Matt Cross represented an upper peninsula township and two of its officers in a federal lawsuit in the Western District of Michigan involving a claimed Fourth Amendment violation. The plaintiff alleged that the township’s officers’ conduct amounted to a false arrest and malicious prosecution. When the time was right, Attorney Kazim and Attorney Cross moved for dismissal on qualified immunity grounds, which the court granted. The […]