Welcome to KOHP.com

Noel D. Massie
Partner

Birmingham Office
280 North Old Woodward Avenue, Suite 400
Birmingham, Michigan 48009

nmassie@kohp.com
P: 248.645.0000
F: 248.645.1385

Biography

Mr. Massie has litigated across a spectrum of employment issues in over 25 years of practice, including claims for age, race, disability, and gender discrimination, severance pay, and fiduciary duty and benefit claims under ERISA. He has also worked extensively in matters involving the enforceability of arbitration agreements, public funding of the judiciary, and election law. In recent years, he has concentrated heavily on appellate practice.

Some of the more notable matters he has been involved with include:

Co-authoring the brief to the Michigan Supreme Court that resulted in a decision establishing gatekeeper rules for expert testimony and overturning a $21 million award to a single sexual harassment plaintiff – the largest such award in the nation’s history.

Serving as principal author of the Sixth Circuit brief and rehearing petition in retiree health insurance litigation brought against the nation’s largest natural gas pipeline company by a class of 3,000 retirees.

Obtaining summary judgment, and affirmance on appeal, in litigation alleging that the value of the plaintiffs’ interest in their decedent’s employer-sponsored retirement account had been improperly diminished.

Co-authoring the Sixth Circuit brief in a case that enforced an arbitration clause in a major Detroit law firm's partnership agreement, precluding a disgruntled partner's effort to sue under discrimination statutes.

Authoring the Sixth Circuit brief in a case that is now a leading modern authority on the functus officio doctrine (an arbitrator may not reconsider or amend a final decision once it is rendered), preserving an arbitration award in favor of a telecommunications company.

Representing incumbent judges in an election law dispute that resulted in a Michigan Supreme Court decision that removed a challenger from the ballot for failure to comply with statutory requirements.

Mr. Massie serves on the Board of Directors of Lighthouse PATH, a subsidiary of Lighthouse of Oakland County, a prominent non-profit organization that provides a safe, nurturing environment for homeless women and their children while they advance their education and employment skills.

Mr. Massie graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School in 1978. He served as law clerk to Justice Charles Levin of the Michigan Supreme Court from 1979 to 1981. He received a B.S. degree cum laude from Michigan State University in 1970.

Bar and Court Admissions
Michigan
U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Memberships and Activities
State Bar of Michigan
Metropolitan Detroit Bar Association