Michigan Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Whether City Beach Operations Count as Governmental Function
The Michigan Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on whether The City of South Haven is shielded by governmental immunity in a wrongful death lawsuit over a Lake Michigan drowning, putting before the justices a dispute over when municipal activity may expose a city to tort liability for injuries on public property.
The Michigan Supreme Court agreed on Friday to consider hearing arguments about whether The City of South Haven has governmental immunity in a wrongful death lawsuit against them.
Crystal LeDuke filed a wrongful death lawsuit against The City of South Haven in May 2024 after her 18-year-old son Brandon Chambers drowned while swimming at a city beach in 2020.
Since the initial filing, city officials have been trying to dismiss the lawsuit on grounds of governmental immunity — a law that renders government agencies immune from liability if the governmental agency is engaged in the exercise or discharge of a governmental function.
A district court judge ruled in March 2024 that the city has immunity.
At the Court of Appeals, attorneys argued about whether beach operations count as a governmental or proprietary function.
Before the case was heard at the Court of Appeals, a district court judge ruled in March 2024 that the city has immunity.
A Van Buren County court denied the city's initial request for dismissal in June 2024, a decision the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned in September 2025.
The point of debate is whether the city's beach operations qualify as a proprietary function, or business-type activity, an exception to governmental immunity protections that would open up the city to liability in Chambers' death.
In granting South Haven governmental immunity, the Michigan Court of Appeals concluded that the city's beach operations do not quality as a proprietary function because they do not operate their beaches for profit, and rather, as a government function.
The city doesn't disagree that the beaches generate profit, however, they maintain that those funds aren't used for anything other than maintaining the beaches and do not fund any other business-type activities such as roads, parks or utilities.
On the other side of the argument, however, there are questions about the city's financial records and whether money from their beach fund truly is only used for beach maintenance.
This case could set an important legal precedent regarding the scope of government immunity and the responsibility of public entities to ensure the safety of beachgoers, especially at popular tourist destinations like the Lake Michigan shoreline.
The lawsuit was filed by the family of a drowning victim who died at a South Haven, Michigan public beach.
Nine other people drowned while at South Haven beaches since 2001, according to a March 2025 beach safety report from the United States Lifesaving Association, making a total of 12 with Chambers, MacDonald and Ernster.
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