Jon D. Vander Ploeg focuses his practice on appellate law and has handled hundreds of cases in the Michigan Court of Appeals, the Michigan Supreme Court, and the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Though these matters have included a wide range of legal issues, his most noteworthy cases are in two particular areas - governmental immunity and medical malpractice tort reform.  Jon also serves as chair of both the firm's Hiring Committee and Agribusiness Industry Team.

Jon spent the earliest part of his legal career in Muskegon before joining Smith Haughey in 1986. He grew up in Grand Rapids and welcomed the move for that reason, but also because he was already devoting much of his time to appellate practice and appreciated the opportunity to devote all of his professional energy to appeals. Jon's appellate experience now spans more than 25 years.

Jon and his wife, Pam, have many interests outside of their professional pursuits. They enjoy home remodeling, music, films, reading, kayaking, gardening, and spending time with their family. They have three grown children - Jon, Kathleen, and Libby - all of whom are amazed by how much their parents have learned in the last few years.

Noteworthy

• BV Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell 

Education

• Hope College (B.A., cum laude, 1971)
• Indiana University (J.D., magna cum laude, 1974); Order of the Coif; Indiana Law Journal Note Editor, 1973-1974

Admitted to Practice

• State Bar of Michigan, 1974

Client Successes for Jon D. Vander Ploeg

• 12/1/2009
  Robert Parker, Jon VanderPloeg, and Scott Harvey successfully represented their client in Taylor v City of Traverse City, in which the Michigan Court of appeals held that the death of a joint-tenant owner of real property was not a "transfer" subjecting the property to property-tax "uncapping." In this case, the father owned a lakeshore residence that he deeded to himself and his daughter in joint tenancy. This conveyance was within the joint tenancy exception to the uncapping statute. But when the father died, leaving his daughter as sole owner, the city took the position that the father's death was a transfer to her, subjecting the property to uncapping. The city then sought to collect taxes at the much higher uncapped rate. The daughter opposed and contended that her father's death was not a transfer subject to uncapping. The Court of Appeals has now agreed with the daughter, and the taxes must be collected at the lower, capped rate.
• 1/1/2009
  Jon VanderPloeg and Marilyn Tyree successfully moved to disqualify an adverse co-defendant's attorney on the basis of his conflict-of-interest. The Court of Appeals, on an interlocutory basis, reversed the trial court's denial of the motion. The co-defendant's attorneys posit full blame on SHRR's client in a wrongful death action, and the client had asserted a crossclaim against the co-defendant for contractual indemnification . During the early stages of litigation in the wrongful death action, Tyree discovered that the co-defendant's law firm actually has been representing SHRR's client in a separate, on-going action. The Court of Appeals agreed that, because the co-defendant's law firm represents the client in another action, the firm is disqualified from representing an adverse co-defendant in the wrongful death action.
• 10/1/2006
  Jon Vander Ploeg and Bill Henn successfully defeated a plaintiff’s motion for an emergency preliminary injunction to halt a County Road Commission’s right-of-way brush control program. They argued, and the Circuit Court agreed, that based on principles of constitutional law creating and governing the existence of the judicial branch of government, the plaintiffs lacked standing to obtain the relief requested.

External Publications

• "Obtaining Stays of Enforcement of Money Judgments," Michigan Defense Quarterly, Summer 1995
• "Does Unavailability of Resources For Maintenance or Repair Have Any Bearing on Highway Liability Claims?" The Pool Cue, Michigan County Road Commission Self-Insurance Pool, August 2008

Smith Haughey Publications

News for Jon D. Vander Ploeg

9/4/2008
Several Smith Haughey Attorneys Recently Published in External Publications.

Professional Affiliations

• American Bar Association (Member, Section on: Litigation)
• State Bar of Michigan (Member, Sections on: Appellate Law; Workers' Compensation Law)
• Grand Rapids Bar Association
• Associate Member, Oceana County Farm Bureau