News/Announcements

On April 6, 2011, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ordered the complete dismissal of a lawsuit filed against Harrison Township, its supervisor, its building official and a building inspector. The court determined that the case was barred because the plaintiffs failed to assert these claims in a previous lawsuit against the Township and its supervisor. The Township’s building officials were defended by McGraw Morris P.C. attorneys Thomas J. McGraw and Christopher J. Raiti. Plaintiffs asserted that the Defendants violated their civil rights during the inspection and permitting process for their home. Two years earlier, the Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the Township and its supervisor arising out of the same incident and the court dismissed all of the Plaintiffs’ claims. Plaintiffs then filed this lawsuit but asserted different claims against the same parties. The court dismissed all of the Plaintiffs’ new claims, holding that they should have amended their prior lawsuit to include the current claims because they stemmed from the same transaction. In making this determination, the court adopted the arguments contained in the brief submitted by Mr. McGraw and Mr. Raiti and quoted extensively from the brief in its written decision.