Sonja Overall v. Oakland County, Mich.

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedOctober 29, 2025
Docket24-1426
StatusUnpublished

This text of Sonja Overall v. Oakland County, Mich. (Sonja Overall v. Oakland County, Mich.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sonja Overall v. Oakland County, Mich., (6th Cir. 2025).

Opinion

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 25a0504n.06

Case No. 24-1426

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

SONJA M. OVERALL, Individually and ) FILED Oct 29, 2025 Personal Representative of the Estate of Eric ) Brian Overall, ) KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk ) Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ) ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED v. ) STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR ) THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN; LAPEER ) MICHIGAN COUNTY, MICHIGAN; DEPUTY KENNETH ) A. PAUL; CHRISTOPHER J. BOSHELL; ) OPINION CHRISTOPHER BOWMAN; HARRY G. ) LUTZE; CHRISTOPHER J. BERAK, ) Defendants-Appellees. ) )

Before: SUTTON, Chief Judge; CLAY and GIBBONS, Circuit Judges.

JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge. Plaintiff-appellant Sonja M. Overall,

individually and as personal representative of the Estate of Eric Brian Overall, appeals the denial

of her motion for relief from judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b).

Sonja M. Overall commenced this litigation after Eric Overall’s tragic death on November

23, 2017. Before his death, Eric Overall served as a deputy at the Oakland County Sheriff’s

Department. Eric Overall was killed in the line of duty while assisting Lapeer County deputies

engaged in a vehicular pursuit of Christopher J. Berak. While Eric Overall was setting up stop

sticks to detain Berak’s vehicle, Berak drove into him and killed him. Sonja M. Overall

(“Overall”) sued Oakland, Lapeer, and Genesee Counties, Kenneth Paul, Christopher Boshell,

Christopher Bowman, Harry Lutze, and Berak. No. 24-1426, Overall v. Oakland Cnty., Mich.

On September 18, 2023, Overall appealed from the district court’s April 26 order granting

summary judgment and from the August 7 judgment. Our court dismissed Overall’s appeal as

untimely under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1) and rejected her claim that the August

7 judgment was not final. Overall moved under Rule 60(b)(1) for re-entry of the final judgment

based on her counsel’s failure to timely file that appeal. The district court denied the Rule 60(b)

motion and Overall timely appealed.

Overall argues that the district court abused its discretion by failing to apply the correct

law. See In re Ferro Corp. Derivative Litig., 511 F.3d 611, 623 (6th Cir. 2008). We disagree.

The court properly applied our precedent to find that Overall’s counsel’s mistake was not an

excusable litigation mistake and did not warrant relief. See FHC Equities, L.L.C. v. MBL Life

Assur. Corp., 188 F.3d 678, 684–85 (6th Cir. 1999). Further, the court did not err by failing to

discuss Kemp v. United States, because that case held that a judge’s mistake may warrant relief

under Rule 60(b)(1)—not that a counsel’s mistake always warrants relief. See 596 U.S. 528, 534–

39 (2022).

We affirm the district court’s denial of Overall’s Rule 60(b) motion.

I.

Sonja M. Overall commenced this action against Oakland, Lapeer, and Genesee Counties,

Kenneth Paul, Christopher Boshell, Christopher Bowman, and Harry Lutze (“Lapeer County

officers”), and Berak following Eric Overall’s tragic death during the pursuit of Berak. After

police observed Berak acting erratically, Berak fled by car and drew the individual law

enforcement defendants into a high-speed, nighttime pursuit.

One non-party officer requested that Oakland County set up stop sticks to halt Berak’s

vehicle. Eric Overall was in his police vehicle near the pursuit when a dispatcher relayed the

-2- No. 24-1426, Overall v. Oakland Cnty., Mich.

request, and his dashcam video captured him leaving his vehicle to deploy stop sticks near where

Berak was approaching. Upon reaching the intersection, Berak braked, steered his vehicle to the

right of the roadway, and struck Eric Overall, resulting in his death. Berak was convicted of first-

degree murder in the Oakland County Circuit Court for Eric Overall’s death, and Sonja M. Overall

(“Overall”) brought this suit.

Overall asserted claims against Lapeer, Oakland, and Genesee Counties under 42 U.S.C.

§ 1983 for violating Eric Overall’s rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S.

Constitution and Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution of the State of Michigan. Overall also

asserted gross negligence claims under Michigan law against Paul, Boshell, Bowman, and Lutze.

As the district court noted, it was initially unclear what claim or claims Overall asserted against

Berak, but following a hearing on March 30, 2023, Overall seemed to confirm that she asserted a

negligence claim against him.

On September 26, 2022, the district court entered a stipulated order dismissing Overall’s

claims against Genesee County with prejudice. As of that order, all other defendants remained:

Oakland County, Lapeer County, the four Lapeer County officers, and Berak. Following the close

of discovery, the district court on April 26, 2023, granted summary judgment in favor of Oakland

County, Lapeer County, and the four Lapeer County officers.

As of April 26, 2023, Berak was the sole defendant. On July 24, 2023, the district court

entered a stipulated order dismissing Overall’s claim against Berak without prejudice. In this

stipulated order, the court stated that the “order resolves the last pending claim and closes the

case.” No. 2:20-cv-12869, DE 201, Parties’ Stipulated Order to Dismiss, Page ID 7995.

The district court entered the judgment in favor of Oakland and Lapeer Counties, Paul,

Boshell, Bowman, and Lutze on August 7, 2023. Indeed, the August 7 judgment referenced the

-3- No. 24-1426, Overall v. Oakland Cnty., Mich.

“Opinion and Order issued on April 26, 2023,” which “granted summary judgment” as to Oakland

and Lapeer Counties, Paul, Boshell, Bowman, and Lutze. No. 2:20-cv-12869, DE 203, Judgment,

Page ID 8009. The August 7 judgment also noted that the stipulated order on July 24, 2023, had

dismissed Overall’s claim against Berak, “the last claim in this case.” Id.

Overall appealed from the April 26 order granting summary judgment and the August 7

judgment on September 18, 2023. She stated in her notice of appeal that the plaintiffs “[a]ppeal .

. . from the Final Judgment (ECF 203) entered in this case on August 7, 2023, in its entirety.” No.

2:20-cv-12869, DE 204, Pls.’ Notice of Appeal, Page ID 8011. Overall then moved the district

court to comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 58 by entering a “Final Judgment disposing

of all parties and claims . . . to eliminate any confusion as to when Plaintiff’s time to file an appeal

expires under [Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure] 4(a)(1)(A),” and “[i]n the event the Court

determines [the August 7 judgment] is a final judgment,” to grant her relief under Federal Rule of

Civil Procedure 60(b). No. 2:20-cv-12869, DE 208, Pls.’ Mot., Page ID 8037–38 (emphasis

removed); see Fed. R. App. P.

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