By Ben Solis
Gongwer News Service
Michigan paid out a total of $69.8 million in judgments and settlements in fiscal year 2022-23, with 14 of 168 cases resulting judgments totaling $7.5 million and 154 settlements totaling $63.3 million.
The figure was $4.5 million less than the $74.3 million reported in fiscal year 2021-22, a 6 percent difference.
The data is compiled each year by the Senate Fiscal Agency. The information contains details on total payments based on reports filed with Michigan’s various departments and agencies. The SFA notes in the data that judgments are defined as court orders acknowledging a plaintiff has prevailed over a defendant, most commonly after a trial. Settlements are defined as agreements between the parties in dispute to resolve the litigation prior to trial.
The Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity saw the biggest increase in year-to-year payouts, with an increase of $20 million above the previous year’s total of zero dollars. The department with the largest decrease in payouts over the last fiscal year was the Department of State Police, with a decrease of $12.6 million from the previously reported $18.7 million, a 67.3 percent decrease.
The Department of Treasury reported the least amount paid in judgments with $7.36 million, while the Department of Corrections paid the largest settlement at $30.9 million.
Corrections’ largest settlement payment out of 111 cases was $15 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging youthful inmates were housed with adults, endured sexual assaults by inmates and staff, trafficking by other inmates, and were placed in solitary confinement after reporting incidents of abuse.
The payment in October 2022 was the fourth and final payment of that settlement for events that occurred between 2010 and 2020. Another $10.8 million was paid to settle harassment and racial discrimination lawsuits, and $3.9 million was paid for an alleged failure to protect a prisoner resulting in death.
LEO settled two cases on behalf of the Unemployment Insurance Agency, with one payment of $20 million to unemployment claimants who sued the agency in 2015. The claimants experienced wrongful collection activity by the state of Michigan after they were erroneously accused of committing fraud through the auto-adjudication process used by the state between October 2013 and August 2015.
Gongwer News Service
Michigan paid out a total of $69.8 million in judgments and settlements in fiscal year 2022-23, with 14 of 168 cases resulting judgments totaling $7.5 million and 154 settlements totaling $63.3 million.
The figure was $4.5 million less than the $74.3 million reported in fiscal year 2021-22, a 6 percent difference.
The data is compiled each year by the Senate Fiscal Agency. The information contains details on total payments based on reports filed with Michigan’s various departments and agencies. The SFA notes in the data that judgments are defined as court orders acknowledging a plaintiff has prevailed over a defendant, most commonly after a trial. Settlements are defined as agreements between the parties in dispute to resolve the litigation prior to trial.
The Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity saw the biggest increase in year-to-year payouts, with an increase of $20 million above the previous year’s total of zero dollars. The department with the largest decrease in payouts over the last fiscal year was the Department of State Police, with a decrease of $12.6 million from the previously reported $18.7 million, a 67.3 percent decrease.
The Department of Treasury reported the least amount paid in judgments with $7.36 million, while the Department of Corrections paid the largest settlement at $30.9 million.
Corrections’ largest settlement payment out of 111 cases was $15 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging youthful inmates were housed with adults, endured sexual assaults by inmates and staff, trafficking by other inmates, and were placed in solitary confinement after reporting incidents of abuse.
The payment in October 2022 was the fourth and final payment of that settlement for events that occurred between 2010 and 2020. Another $10.8 million was paid to settle harassment and racial discrimination lawsuits, and $3.9 million was paid for an alleged failure to protect a prisoner resulting in death.
LEO settled two cases on behalf of the Unemployment Insurance Agency, with one payment of $20 million to unemployment claimants who sued the agency in 2015. The claimants experienced wrongful collection activity by the state of Michigan after they were erroneously accused of committing fraud through the auto-adjudication process used by the state between October 2013 and August 2015.
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