KENNETH JAMES LOWE v. WALBRO, LLC - Articles

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KENNETH JAMES LOWE v. WALBRO, LLC

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Aug 5, 2025

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ARGUED: Jonathan R. Marko, MARKO LAW, PLLC, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant.

Attorneys 2: ARGUED: David M. Cessante, CLARK HILL PLC, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.

Attorneys 3: ON BRIEF: Jonathan R. Marko, Christopher Putrycus, MARKO LAW, PLLC, Detroit, Michigan, Thomas R. Warnicke, LAW OFFICES OF THOMAS R. WARNICKE, PLLC, Bingham Farms, Michigan, for Appellant.

Attorneys 4: ON BRIEF: David M. Cessante, Brian D. Shekell, CLARK HILL PLC, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.

Judge(s): GILMAN, BUSH, and READLER, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Bay City

RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. In June 2018, Kenneth Lowe was fired from his job at Walbro LLC. Lowe was 60 years old at the time and had worked at Walbro for more than four decades. He responded by filing this diversity-of-citizenship lawsuit against Walbro, alleging that the company had violated Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), Mich. Comp. Laws § 37.2101 et seq., by discharging him because of his age. A jury found in favor of Lowe after a full trial on the merits. The district court subsequently granted Walbro’s motion for judgment as a matter of law and vacated the jury’s verdict, holding that the evidence that Lowe presented at trial, which was materially different from the evidence that he had previously presented in overcoming Walbro’s motion for summary judgment, was insufficient for the case to have been submitted to the jury. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

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