A suit against Michigan by the owner of the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, has been tossed out of one state court and into another.
The Michigan Court of Claims said Monday that the suit filed there in November by the Detroit International Bridge Company owned by developer and trucking executive Manuel “Matty” Moroun belongs in the district court system — beside the suit the state has filed against Moroun.
The competing suits are over the Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project, which involves more than $300 million in public and private funds for construction of new traffic ramps, highway improvements and a truck plaza near the bridge entrance.
Moroun’s suit demands that the state open the newly constructed traffic ramps to the bridge. The state claims it cannot open the ramps until Moroun’s firm finishes the parts of the Gateway construction it agreed to in a contract with the state.
The suits are the latest legal skirmish in Moroun’s quest to rebuild the Ambassador Bridge and keep it as the main crossing between the two cities.
Canada and the United States, however, have agreed to build a new, publicly owned bridge down river from the Ambassador and Canada has refused to give Moroun permits to rebuild his bridge.
Michele Fuetsch
Staff Reporter
