Gotion vs. Green Charter Township: Damages Claim and State Clawback

Gotion Inc. is suing Green Charter Township, Michigan, in federal court after the township’s board pulled its support for a planned $2.4 billion electric vehicle battery component plant. The Gotion vs. Green Charter Township lawsuit, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, seeks tens of millions of dollars in compensatory damages, lost profits the company says could reach into the hundreds of millions, and punitive damages against a rural township whose general fund budget is under $1 million.¹

What Gotion Is Claiming

Gotion’s first amended complaint presses five counts against Green Charter Township, mixing contract and constitutional theories:

Breach of the development agreement, based on the township’s alleged failure to help with permits and its rescission of water extension and support resolutions.
Equal protection violations under the Michigan and U.S. Constitutions, alleging the township showed “animus” toward Gotion that it did not show toward other developers.
Substantive due process violations under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, tied to the right to pursue a lawful business.
A Contracts Clause claim, alleging the township’s resolutions and interim zoning ordinance impaired Gotion’s contractual obligations with the Michigan Strategic Fund.
A regulatory taking claim, alleging the board acted with a “self-proclaimed purpose of destroying Gotion’s project.”²

The company describes the township’s conduct as an “egregious abuse of official power” that “shocks the conscience.” On damages, Gotion is seeking compensatory damages for money already spent, consequential damages for lost profits and incentives it says could total hundreds of millions of dollars, at least $23.67 million in direct damages tied to repayment of state funds, and punitive damages. Itemized expenditures in the complaint include $56 million in salaries and infrastructure costs, $7.3 million in architectural and engineering design work, and $500,000 in management and marketing fees.¹

How the Dispute Reached Federal Court

Gotion, a subsidiary of Chinese battery maker Gotion High-tech, planned to build the plant on roughly 270 acres in Green Charter Township, a community of about 3,000 people some 60 miles north of Grand Rapids.³ The Michigan Strategic Fund committed $50 million through the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve, and the state put up another $24 million for land acquisition.¹

On August 22, 2023, Gotion and the township signed a development agreement in which the township committed to help with permits and extend water and sewer service to the site.⁴ Community opposition was intense. Residents organized under the “No Gotion” banner, raising concerns about traffic, environment, and national security tied to Gotion’s Chinese parent. In late 2023, voters elected new trustees who had campaigned against the deal.²

Once seated, the new board rescinded an October 2023 water extension resolution, revoked a December 2022 support resolution, and adopted an interim zoning ordinance imposing greater land-use oversight.⁴ Gotion sued in March 2024. The case, 1:24-cv-275, was assigned to Judge Jane M. Beckering.

From Injunction to Damages

Gotion initially sought a preliminary injunction forcing the township to honor the development agreement. On May 17, 2024, Judge Beckering granted that injunction, finding that meeting minutes and video recordings showed the board had authorized its former supervisor to execute the agreement, and that the agreement was likely valid and binding. The township had argued the agreement was “structurally unenforceable,” lacked mutuality, and that the former supervisor had no authority to sign it, but the court found the dispute turned on legal interpretation and did not require an evidentiary hearing.⁴

The township appealed, and the Sixth Circuit found the injunctive claim moot, effectively recognizing that the project was dead and that Gotion’s remedy, if any, was money.² The case returned to the Grand Rapids federal court in January 2026 on Gotion’s amended damages complaint. The township has moved to block the damages claims.¹

The State Is Also Trying to Claw Back Money

The township case is running alongside a separate state effort to recover subsidies. The Michigan Strategic Fund declared the Gotion project in default in September 2025 and gave the company 30 days to cure.⁵ Of the $50 million disbursed through the Right Place economic development organization, about $23.67 million reached Gotion through SOAR, with roughly $27.4 million unspent.¹

On January 30, 2026, the Michigan Attorney General’s office demanded immediate repayment of $23.7 million in grant dollars.⁵ The Attorney General is separately pursuing $24 million in state funds used for land acquisition.¹ The two tracks overlap: the same $24 million in land costs that Michigan is trying to recover from Gotion is money Gotion is counting in the damages it wants from the township.

What the Township Faces

Green Charter Township’s general fund budget is under $1 million, and it has already had to look outside that budget to fund its defense. It has received about $200,000 in marijuana tax revenue from Mecosta County to help pay legal bills.¹ Even a partial verdict for Gotion would dwarf the township’s finances.

Township Supervisor Jason Kruse said the township is “still waiting to see how the court wants to proceed with the case.”² As of mid-2026, the case remains pending in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.

1
Bridge Michigan. Gotion Sues Tiny Michigan Township to Recoup Costs From Failed EV Battery Deal
2
Big Rapids News. Gotion Seeks Damages From Green Charter Township
3
The New York Times. Gotion Chinese Subsidiary Michigan Protests
4
Up North Live. Gotion Case Order Granting Preliminary Injunction
5
State Affairs Pro. Michigan Strategic Fund Default