Michigan’s Supreme Court declined to review a lower-court decision that upheld a law denying indemnity benefits to undocumented workers who used fraudulent documents to obtain employment.
By passing on the case, the court let the appellate ruling stand without comment.
According to InsuranceNews US, the dispute began with a 2021 lawsuit filed by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The organization said it suffered direct harm after its farmworker legal assistance program became overwhelmed by undocumented workers seeking help with denied workers’ compensation benefits.
The group traced the surge to a 2003 Michigan Court of Appeals decision. That ruling interpreted a statute barring indemnity benefits for workers unable to work due to committing a crime as applying to individuals who used false documents to secure employment.
A trial court initially sided with the Immigrant Rights Center. It found that the state’s one-year statute of limitations for lawsuits did not apply because the group sought only prospective relief, not damages tied to past harm.
The Court of Appeals reversed. It ruled the one-year notice requirement still applied and pointed to the organization’s own timeline. The legal assistance program launched in 2017, InsuranceNews US noted.
Staffing expanded in 2019 as demand linked to farmworker benefit denials grew.
Based on that sequence, the appellate court concluded the deadline to sue the state expired sometime in 2020.
The Supreme Court affirmed that outcome without issuing an opinion.
Three justices dissented. They said the court should have taken the case and overturned the lower ruling. In their view, the one-year notice rule governs claims tied to past injuries, not lawsuits aimed at stopping future harm.
One dissenter wrote that statutes of limitations don’t fit actions based on anticipated or ongoing injury. The Immigrant Rights Center’s claims, the justice argued, landed squarely in that camp.
According to Beinsure analysts, the decision keeps intact a legal structure that continues to shape workers’ compensation eligibility in Michigan. It also tightens the window for advocacy groups trying to challenge similar laws through forward-looking claims. The door isn’t closed. It’s narrower.
