Gov. signs law clarifying jury right in lawsuits

LANSING (AP) -- Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has signed a law to ensure people who file certain types of lawsuits against the state have a right to a jury trial. The law signed Wednesday amends a law passed last month that gave jurisdiction over state suits to different judges. Majority Republicans took lawsuits against the state away from Ingham County judges in the Democratic-leaning Lansing area and moved them to four appeals court judges. The new Court of Claims also has jurisdiction over suits against the state that county judges were overseeing. Snyder says the new law clarifies that nothing in the month-old law eliminates any right to a jury trial or deprives a state trial court of jurisdiction over claims where there's a right to a jury trial. Published: Fri, Dec 20, 2013