I promised a thorough review of the lawsuit Andrew Riemer has with the City of Ludington so here it is without further ado.  Note that this is one side's version of events without an answer from the other side, but it paints a very ugly picture of what happened up to this point as far as the actions of the city and its agents is concerned.  This case is reminiscent of the Jack Byers lawsuit of 2007 in that it indicates impropriety by the highest city officials as regards the construction of a building, but it appears that this case may develop into something much worse and more costly than the quarter of a million that case cost the taxpayers.

                          ASR REAL ESTATE, LLC V. CITY OF LUDINGTON, 2025 

On p.1 of the complaint, we find that Stephen R. Estey of the Farmington Hills law firm of Zausmer PC is representing the limited liability company ASR Real Estate, LLC in their suit versus the City of Ludington (COL) in case 25-290-CZ.  The first sentences of the introduction summarize the issue:

Page 2 develops this further, indicating former city manager, Mitch Foster, had a full buy-in with the idea of what AndyS offered in 2021.  Four years later, the COL pulled a bait and switch according to the suit, AndyS played by the rules and followed the site plan approvals, but new city leaders would not even give them a meeting to discuss any issues, which to them were columns that were too close to the curb.

These city leaders would even hire an outside counsel to consider this one issue [EDITOR:  Illegally, the hiring was never approved by the city council, never even discussed in standing committees] we read in p. 3, and would not allow the columns to be where they were for what was at first an unknown reason, which turned out later to be plans for an ill-conceived $300,000 cost bike lane on one side of South Rath [EDITOR:  a lane never discussed at council or standing committee] to be paid for by ASR in order to have the column issue forgiven.  In conclusion of their introduction:

Pages 4, 5, and 6 describe the factual background of the construction process and how it fit in with the approved site plan.  On page 7, we learn the construction costs were over $8.6 million, and find that the city forced ASR to construct the curb closer to the columns than was approved [EDITOR:  this contradicts statements by City Manager Kaitlyn Aldrich], this led to the city claiming the curb was closer to the columns than what was planned.  

On page 8, ASR alleges that the column controversy and the stop work order (SWO, a pretext to the city's agenda) was created in order to facilitate the creation of an optional protected bike lane to be funded by ASR, in order for them to operate their business.  They point to the ridiculous assertion by the city manager that the current column placement would have as regards snowplows.  

Page 9 offers an independent traffic engineer's report that shows the curb could be moved 22" from the column and conform to legal requirements for road width, then claims that the Stop Work Order is costing ASR $90,000 for each month that it remains on.  It begins listing the counts in their claim with Count 1 for declaratory relief, to show that the original site plan approved by the city was valid throughout and the SWO was improper.

On page 10, the complaint calls for 'equitable estoppel' of the SWO as count 2, effectively dismissing the SWO's enforceability.  Page 11 introduces count 3 about the temporary taking made by the COL through the SWO, which according to the earlier reckoning is $90K for each month it remains in effect.  Page 12 offers count 4, a request for a writ of mandamus to rescind the SWO and allow for the business to continue and open in accordance with the site plan.

Counts 5 and 6 are due process denial claims, as one might expect due to a punishment (the SWO) being issued without objective standards of law and no reasonable avenue of appeal is most of what is in p. 13, the city has a habit of denying folks and businesses due process rights for some reason, even when most courts find such conduct unconstitutional and deplorable.  Page 14 contains count 7 which asks for injunctive relief, effectively asking the court to immediately enjoin the SWO and allow ASR to proceed as if it didn't exist throughout the course of litigation.

Finally, page 15 concludes the complaint, asking the court for relief mostly contained within the counts: 

Three of the exhibits are worth looking at, the site plan drawing approved and the bike lane estimate of over $300,000, are informative, but a letter drafted by Building Inspector Shawn Reed on the same day as they went into an illegal closed session is quite telling of what they may have discussed that night with their illicitly-hired attorney from Mika Meyers.  

Under apparent direction of outside legal counsel, Reed states (page 1 and 2) that site plan approval has been revoked and a SWO has been issued.  Reed quotes from the Ludington Uniform Development Ordinance (LUDO) passed in 2024 as it applies to an agreement it made back in 2021, when the LUDO wasn't even being considered as new law.  As such, Reed was using an ex post facto law to level legal discipline onto ASR for what was apparently deemed lawful by the COL back in 2021.  Governments invoking ex post facto laws as punishment on others is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit seems pretty sound on most matters, and it remains to be seen whether Mika Meyers will continue to be unlawfully retained by the COL to defend their bad advisement as reported in the lawsuit, or whether they will use the risk management attorneys meant for such legal matters.  

New City Manager Kaitlyn "PrevariKaitlyn" Aldrich has a lot to answer for in regard to her attempted extortion and capricious actions, magnified by a growing list of lies that she has told the public in her freshman term of office, and growing list of powers that are not affirmed by the city charter.   Such actions can only happen when the rest of our elected city leaders allow it.  They have up to now, and we are paying for their lack of oversight of this bad choice they made to manage the city.