ESTATE OF WILLIAM D. PILGRIM v. General Motors LLC ( 2023 )

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION ESTATE OF WILLIAM D. 2:20-CV-10562-TGB-DRG PILGRIM, et al., Plaintiffs, ORDER GRANTING vs. PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR SUBSTITUTION GENERAL MOTORS LLC, (ECF NO. 36) Defendant. On December 6, 2022, the Court issued an order (ECF No. 39) regarding Plaintiffs’ motion to substitute the Estate of John LeBar, administered by Linda LeBar, in place of Plaintiff John LeBar (ECF No. 36). That order called for additional information to be submitted to the Court within 14 days of issuance because Plaintiffs’ motion appeared to be procedurally defective in several ways, not in the least because Plaintiffs failed to indicate to the Court whether they sought concurrence in the relief requested—as required by Local Rule 7.1(a). Plaintiffs disregarded the order and, several months later, still have not provided the Court with the information it requested. Nonetheless, Defendant General Motors has not opposed the motion. And the Court’s review of other material in the record—in particular, Linda LeBar’s verification of her late husband’s responses to GM’s first set of interrogatories, ECF No. 38-2, PageID.2687—is sufficient to demonstrate to the Court that the Estate of John LeBar is not being unwittingly “thrust … into a case that [it] would rather not be in, or at least not as the client of” the late Mr. LeBar’s counsel. Atkins v. City of Chicago, 547 F.3d 869, 874 (7th Cir. 2008). Accordingly, Plaintiffs’ Motion for Substitution (ECF No. 36) will be GRANTED. IT IS ORDERED THAT Named Plaintiff John LeBar is formally substituted with the Estate of John LeBar. IT IS SO ORDERED, this 29th day of September, 2023. BY THE COURT: /s/Terrence G. Berg TERRENCE G. BERG United States District Judge