Justin A. Hinkley

Lansing State Journal

In the last three years, the Michigan State Administrative Board has approved more than $433,000 in small claims filed by civilians, prisoners and state employees

The average payment was for about $178.

Corrections cutting number of claims with better controls over inmate property

LANSING – The government’s small errors and minor negligence — and, perhaps, fraud by prisoners — cost Michigan taxpayers nearly $213,000 over the last three years.

Since January 2013, taxpayers have been charged nearly $62,000 for damaged vehicles (not all because of potholes), about $30,000 for broken, lost or stolen TVs, and about $12,000 for lost, damaged or stolen eyeglasses, according to a State Journal analysis of records of small claims against state government approved by the State Administrative Board.

The amounts approved by that board, which considers claims seeking less than $1,000 in damages, are barely a blip in the state’s $54 billion annual budget. And they pale against the nearly $71 million in larger court judgments and settlements the state paid in 2014 alone.

DATABASE: Small claims against Michigan

But the small-claims awards – paid to ordinary Michiganders, to state employees, and to Michigan prisoners – highlight how common mishaps and mistakes are in a nearly 50,000-employee organization serving nearly 10 million constituents.

To wit:

The Administrative Board approved more than $15,000 over the last three years reimbursing Michiganders for damage to their vehicles caused by potholes, according to an LSJ analysis of Administrative Board minutes. But the board also OK’d nearly $8,500 for vehicles damaged by state employees operating lawnmowers, and nearly $3,200 for vehicles hit by faulty gates at state parking ramps and lots.

Another nearly $31,000 went to miscellaneous vehicle damage, including everything from state employees’ personal vehicles damaged during official state business to vehicles hit by debris flung by MDOT snowplows. Taxpayers also reimbursed residents whose vehicles – and occasionally houses -- were damaged by limbs falling off of state-owned trees.

One inmate was paid about $450 after a faulty sprinkler system flooded his cell, damaging legal documents, books and other property.

One man was paid $999.99 – the maximum payable through the Administrative Board process – to replace his hunting blind damaged while the Michigan State Police were chasing a robbery suspect.

Another claimant got about $545 after his car was hit by the truck delivering the official state Christmas tree.

And another got the full $999.99 after his neighbor shot his pregnant bison, apparently because a Department of Natural Resources officer told him he could.

The small-claims payments are decreasing, largely because the Michigan Department of Corrections has implemented new controls on inmates’ personal property. Nearly half of the small claims paid by the state in recent years went to inmates.

The most common prisoner claim accused the department of losing or damaging a prisoner's property – most often small, transparent plastic TV sets prisoners can buy for about $150 – when the inmates are transferred from one facility to another and their belongings are shipped to a new prison. But Corrections spokesman Chris Gautz said it’s also common practice for inmates to file claims saying the state had lost or damaged personal items that the prisoners themselves had actually given away to settle debts.

To prevent items from being lost, or to prevent the department from being blamed for something they didn’t do, corrections officers now check to make sure TVs and other items are working before and after shipment. The department now uses standardized tags for prisoner property during shipping, so it’s easier to match belongings to the correct inmate.

“Now, whenever possible, we have the prisoner pack up their own belongings, so they are in control of what is packed up,” Gautz added in an email to the State Journal. “This keeps us from being blamed for damaging an item or having something go missing. The officer will note that on the tag, and they will also account for how many items are in (a package) when it leaves and then how many are in it when it arrives at the new facility.”

It seems to be working: In 2013, the Administrative Board received more than 800 prisoner claims and the department awarded inmates more than $73,000. Last year, the board reviewed only 123 inmate claims and approved less than $9,000 in prisoner reimbursements, according to the board minutes.

That’s a nearly 90% decrease.

Gautz said the department wants to do more, including standardized boxes and packing material to prevent damage and a package tracking system similar to what Amazon uses to let you track your shipments.

The Administrative Board includes representatives of the governor and lieutenant governor, the secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, state schools chief, the director of the Michigan Department of Transportation, and the Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

Claims are reviewed by both department officials and the attorney general’s office before going to the Administrative Board for final review. The claims are paid out of the departments’ budgets.

And the claims are not rubber-stamped. Less than half of the claimants get everything they ask for – on average, the board approves payments equal to about 80% of the amount people originally seek. About three in 10 requests are outright denied.

In 49 of the 1,727 claims considered since 2013, the board actually approved an amount higher than what the person asked for.

“If information is discovered during the review of the supporting documents by the (attorney general) or the board, then adjustments can be made up or down,” DTMB spokesman Caleb Buhs said in an email to the State Journal.

And the board is precise: One Secretary of State customer sought $906 for towing and impound fees, lost wages, mental stress and alternate transportation allegedly caused by a branch error. The board gave the claimant $5. One prisoner asked for $119.75 for laundry sent out but never returned. The board decided that inmate’s clothes were worth $135.25.

The smallest payment approved by the board was $1.10. A prisoner asked for $110 for a damaged TV; the board determined the TV was worth about 1% of that.

Small claims against the state, by the numbers

$212,834.98: Total amount paid from January 2013 through December 2015 to settle small claims against the state, out of $433,131.32 in claims made

Total amount paid from January 2013 through December 2015 to settle small claims against the state, out of $433,131.32 in claims made $104,320.05: Share of those claims paid to prisoners, out of $256,965.33 in prisoner claims made

Share of those claims paid to prisoners, out of $256,965.33 in prisoner claims made $82,659.38: Share of those claims paid to civilians, out of $143,221.92 in civilian claims made

Share of those claims paid to civilians, out of $143,221.92 in civilian claims made $25,855.55: Share of those claims paid to state employees, out of $32,944.07 in state employee claims made

Share of those claims paid to state employees, out of $32,944.07 in state employee claims made 1,727: Total number of claims considered by the State Administrative Board in 2013, 2014 and 2015, including 1,327 prisoner claims, 309 civilian claims, and 91 state employee claims

Source: State Administrative Board minutes

Contact Justin A. Hinkley at (517) 377-1195 or jhinkley@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley. Sign up for his email newsletter, SoM Weekly, at on.lsj.com/somsignup.