In August 2011, when Patricia and Martin Knudsen’s son Michael suffered a horrific electrocution death at Clinch Park Marina, the couple thought they had hit the lowest point in their lives. What they didn’t yet know is that losing their son was only the beginning.

As Patrick Sullivan writes in this week's Northern Express, sister publication of The Ticker, the couple sued the City of Traverse City, the marina, officials, and numerous contractors who had designed and installed the marina’s faulty electrical system, but that sprawling lawsuit was dismissed. As that case fell apart, the Knudsens sought a second opinion; the couple’s new attorneys sued their original lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger, for legal malpractice, arguing that he overlooked a strategy that could have prevented their lawsuit from getting dismissed. The malpractice suit was also dismissed, and it is pending before the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Next, Fieger sued the Knudsens, their new attorneys, and Dean Robb, the Suttons Bay lawyer who connected Fieger and the Knudsens in the first place. Fieger’s lawsuit alleged that the defendants conspired to set him up for a malpractice case. That last twist is what’s so baffling to the Knudsens. Patricia Knudsen works in the shipping and receiving department at Munson Medical Center. Martin Knudsen works as a machinist. They live in the woods outside of Mancelona.

Fieger filed his lawsuit against the Knudsens, their attorneys, and Robb in Wayne County. As the litigation grew to contain over 1,000 pages of motions and notices and documents, it was transferred — despite Fieger’s objections — to Grand Traverse County, where the Knudsens were dismissed from the suit earlier this year. It’s been a confusing and painful whirlwind for the couple, who have never received any compensation for their son’s death at age 18.

The publicity about their son’s death — and about the injuries suffered by his friend, Zachary Kott-Millard — from jumping into electrified waters at the marina spurred marinas across the state to make certain their electrical systems were up to code. That’s a significant step forward, Knudsen says, because more than anything else, she doesn’t want what happened to her son to happen to anyone else. But the legal experience left the couple disillusioned.

“It’s the whole lack of due process for us as a family — we kind of got lost in the shuffle,” she says. “The only rights people have is what they can afford. Without money, you don’t have a voice, in a way.”

Read more about the Knudsens' case — and all the legal twists and turns in the lawsuit — in this week's Northern Express story, "The Case That Will Not End." The Northern Express is available to read online, or pick up a free copy at one of nearly 700 spots in 14 counties across northern Michigan.