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 […]

Attorneys Gregory Grant and Kristen Rewa recently obtained summary judgment in favor of a small, rural city, its police chief, and a police lieutenant in a hotly contested employment discrimination case alleging violations of the due process clause, equal protection clause, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), a federal statute which protects the rights of active military members and veterans from discrimination in civilian employment. The […]

Last week, a federal jury in Detroit returned a no cause verdict in favor of Jim Acho’s client after a 5-day trial. The case is Jacob Branham v. City of Allen Park PD, et al. The City, PD, police officer and Wayne County prosecutor were all dismissed on motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity. However, the individual private citizen defendant was forced to trial without the availability of that immunity. Trial […]

Ryan Miller, an equity partner in our Riverside office, and Daniel Ferris, an attorney in our Riverside office, recently received an extraordinarily favorable trial result in an admitted liability case. The trial involved allegations of negligent supervision by a local school district, which led to special education students engaging in multiple instances of sexual contact in a school bathroom. The trial lasted 14 days, and in closing the plaintiff asked […]

CMDA congratulates Attorney Linda Davis Friedland on a successful five-day bench trial in the Oakland County Business Court. Ms. Friedland and her team represented a company that was sued by another company with which it had a longtime contractor/subcontractor relationship. Plaintiff sued our client for tortious interference with a business expectancy, claiming it suffered $1,464,240.00 in damages for lost business due to our client’s construction liens, which had been prepared […]

Kristen Rewa, a partner in our Grand Rapids office, recently obtained dismissal of an employment discrimination lawsuit on behalf of a county and sheriff. The plaintiff, a former deputy, filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging sex discrimination and retaliation against her former employer. She alleged that she experienced a culture of sexism and hostility, incidents of inappropriate behavior from a supervisor, difficulties in receiving backup on calls, reassignment of […]