Lex Fori PLLC and Carson J. Tucker File Brief Challenging Michigan’s Property Foreclosure Tax System and Constitutionality of Property Acquisition

Lex Fori, PLLC and Carson J. Tucker recently filed a brief in the Court of Appeals seeking to overturn a property tax foreclosure in which a contracted third-party was sending notices of the tax foreclosure proceedings to a post office box which was no longer in operation. The contractor had access to the property owner’s proper home address, as did the County Treasurer, yet, the only “notice” that was sent to our client regarding the tax foreclosure proceedings was the judgment, by which time it was too late to redeem the property.

Interesting sub-issues in this case have to do with challenging the constitutionality of taking private property for a failure of the property owner to pay a single year’s property tax bill of a couple thousand dollars, and yet allowing the county to resell the property taken on the open market for a windfall – taking the value of the property without compensation or any reimbursement to the property owner. In this case, several parcels and lake front property were taken this way and sold where the client had maintained this property for decades making the coefficient between the tax bill and the value of the property extremely high.

Read the brief here: Mitchell.Brief.on.Appeal.01.17.2020

Sixth Circuit Affirms District Court’s Judgment for GM in Class Action Brought by Retirees to Bar Coordination of Pension and Workers’ Compensation Benefits

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed Chief Judge Gerald Rosen’s decision granting summary judgment to General Motors in a class action filed by former GM employees, who filed suit to stop GM from “coordinating”, i.e., reducing workers’ compensation benefits based on disability pension benefits to which they were entitled.  The underlying facts stem from GM’s reorganization efforts in 2009 and a “letter agreement” executed by and between GM and UAW allowing GM to prospectively coordinate the workers’ compensation disability benefits and the pension disability benefits workers had been receiving for years as a result of the same work-related injury.  The former employees / retirees argued that the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) and Michigan Workers’ Compensation Law, MCL 418.354(11) and (15) prohibited the coordination of the benefits.  The district court ruled for GM as to all claims in the complaint.  In this unpublished opinion, the Sixth Circuit affirms.  Carson J. Tucker of Lacey & Jones, LLP assisted in the preparation and drafting of the appeal brief before the Sixth Circuit.

Here is the opinion:  04-30-13 Opinion

 

Sixth Circuit Affirms District Court’s Judgment for GM in Class Action Brought by Retirees to Bar Coordination of Pension and Workers’ Compensation Benefits

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed Chief Judge Gerald Rosen’s decision granting summary judgment to General Motors in a class action filed by former GM employees, who filed suit to stop GM from “coordinating”, i.e., reducing workers’ compensation benefits based on disability pension benefits to which they were entitled.  The underlying facts stem from GM’s reorganization efforts in 2009 and a “letter agreement” executed by and between GM and UAW allowing GM to prospectively coordinate the workers’ compensation disability benefits and the pension disability benefits workers had been receiving for years as a result of the same work-related injury.  The former employees / retirees argued that the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) and Michigan Workers’ Compensation Law, MCL 418.354(11) and (15) prohibited the coordination of the benefits.  The district court ruled for GM as to all claims in the complaint.  In this unpublished opinion, the Sixth Circuit affirms.  Carson J. Tucker of Lacey & Jones, LLP assisted in the preparation and drafting of the appeal brief before the Sixth Circuit.

Here is the opinion:  04-30-13 Opinion