Updates About Lower Court Rulings

On August 23, a federal court jury found Adam Fox and Barry Croft, two individuals who conspired to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, guilty of conspiracy to kidnap and use a weapon of mass destruction in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. This unanimous verdict came after the first attempt to prosecute the men ended in a mistrial.

Deliberations were delivered in less than 24 hours after a two week-long retrial. Two other men involved in the kidnapping plot – Brandon Caseta and Daniel Harris – were both acquitted in the first trial. Attorney for Ty Garbin, another man involved in the plot who agreed to a plea deal in the initial trial, filed a request with the court to reduce his sentence by 36 months, stating that Garbin provided significant assistance to convict Fox and Croft.

Following the verdict, Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued the following statement: “Today’s verdicts prove that violence and threats have no place in our politics and those who seek to divide us will be held accountable. They will not succeed, but we must also take a hard look at the status of our politics. Plots against public officials and threats to the FBI are a disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism that festers in our nation, threatening the very foundation of our republic.”

The approximately 17,000 who saw their catastrophic care coverage severely limited following the enactment of the 2019 auto no-fault law had a major win on August 25 when the Court of Appeals ruled that the retroactive application of the reform violated the Contracts Clause in the Michigan Constitution.

In the opinion for Andary v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company, issued by Judges Douglas Shapiro and Sima Patel, the judges found that the Legislature failed to clearly specify that the law was to apply retroactively. Those who were injured prior to the new law, under their previous insurance contracts, were guaranteed medical expense care and reimbursement at levels set in those contracts.

Changes in the auto no-fault law, which went into effect in July of 2021, limited reimbursement for family-provided attendant care to 56 hours a week. It also capped a health care provider’s reimbursement for services not covered by Medicare by 45 percent of the fees set in January 2019.

*Andary v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company *was remanded to the Ingham Circuit Court where prospective coverage could be considered. An attorney for the insurance company has said they plan to appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.

On August 11, U.S. Magistrate Judge David Grand of the Eastern District of Michigan U.S. District Court ruled a mistrial in the Flint Water Civil Trial after the jury shared it was unable to come to an agreement on a verdict in the case. The hung jury stated that continued deliberations would cause stress and anxiety with someone having to surrender their vote for the purpose of having a verdict.

The trial involved four plaintiffs, all of which are children, against defendants of engineering firms Veola North America (VNA) and Lockwood, Andrews, & Newnam (LAN). The plaintiffs lived in Flint during the water contamination crisis and attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that LAN was responsible for 25 percent of the crisis while VNA was responsible for 50 percent, with both companies negligent in giving fault advice to the city. The rest was placed on the state and former state officials. LAN and VAN argued the state and city officials were to blame.

In total, the trial lasted 76 days and had 45 people testify in the case.