Attorneys Kevin Alexandersen and Colleen Mountcastle obtained summary disposition in favor of the railroad in three Michigan cases in which former railroad employees claimed the development of lung or prostate cancer due to alleged workplace exposures. In Wayne County and Calhoun County, Michigan, the respective Circuit Courts granted summary disposition to the railroads finding that the plaintiffs’ 2017 lawsuits were time-barred because the plaintiffs failed to timely investigate the causes of their cancers within the three year statute of limitations applicable to claims under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act.
These victories came on the heels of Attorneys Alexandersen, Mountcastle, Holly Olarczuk-Smith, and Molly Kremer obtaining summary disposition in favor the railroad in Wayne County, Michigan. The Circuit Court granted summary disposition to the railroad based on lack of standing and lack of subject matter jurisdiction because although the named plaintiff was the “representative of an estate” of a former railroad employee, there was no estate for the decedent in existence at the time the complaint was filed. Plaintiff did not appeal from any of the summary disposition decisions.