Age & disability discrimination; Jurisdiction; “Final order”; Governmental immunity; The Court of Claims Act (COCA); Failure to comply with MCL 600.6431 when proceeding against a state defendant in the circuit court; Tyrrell v University of MI

The court held that given the conclusions in Tyrrell and its clear and direct application to this case, defendant “was not entitled to governmental immunity from suit based on the claim that plaintiff failed to comply with MCL 600.6431.” Thus, it affirmed the order denying defendant summary disposition. The appeal arose out of allegations of age and disability discrimination made by plaintiff, defendant’s former employee. Defendant argued that “under MCL 600.6431, plaintiff was required to file a notice of intent to sue with the Court of Claims, even though plaintiff brought her claims in circuit court. According to defendant, compliance with MCL 600.6431 is a condition precedent to suing it; thus, if the statute is not followed, the lawsuit must be dismissed.” The court disagreed, noting that in Tyrrell, it recently addressed “the very issue raised by defendant” in this case. The Tyrrell court held that “absent the Legislature conditioning its consent to suit on compliance with the COCA, a plaintiff properly bringing a claim in circuit court against the state or a state defendant to which MCL 600.6431 applies is not required to comply with MCL 600.6431 for his or her claim to proceed in that court.”