A case related to the 2010 Kalamazoo River oil spill is heading back to Calhoun County Circuit Court.
The Michigan Court of Appeals sent the case back to the lower court Thursday. It says a trial should decide a resident's claim that health problems were caused by the disaster.
In 2011, a Calhoun County Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of Chance Lowery's suit charging Enbridge Energy with negligent operation of the 6B pipeline that broke near Marshall, dumping nearly a million gallons of "tar sands" crude oil into the Kalamazoo River. But the judge dismissed Lowery's claim that vomiting caused by chemical fumes was directly linked to internal bleeding that required emergency surgery to correct. Lawyers for Enbridge had asked the judge to dismiss that part of the suit.
The Appeals Court says the facts of Lowery's health issues, and what caused them, should be determined in the courtroom, not by a summary judgment.
