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Posted: Nov 14, 2018, 3:00 PM
The owners of three dogs killed by Detroit police during a marijuana raid can sue the officers who shot the dogs for civil rights violations under 42 USC §1983, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
Posted: Nov 7, 2018, 10:35 AM
A former Michigan lawmaker charged with perjury is not entitled to legislative immunity or evidentiary privilege under the Michigan Constitution, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.
In People v Courser (Docket No. 341817), former state Representative Todd Courser was charged with perjury. The charges stemmed from testimony Courser gave to a House Select Committee that was examining allegations that he had committed misconduct in office.
Posted: Oct 24, 2018, 12:15 PM
The State of Michigan can earmark public funds for private and parochial schools pursuant to MCL 388.1752b for the “actual costs incurred in complying with state health, safety, and welfare laws,” the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled in a 2-1 decision.
Posted: Oct 17, 2018, 2:20 PM
The Michigan Supreme Court recently adopted the constitutional standard for reviewing an indigent defendant’s request for state funds to hire an expert witness, tossing out the decades-old practice of reviewing such requests under state law – specifically, MCL 775.15.
Posted: Oct 10, 2018, 2:10 PM
An attorney who performed work on a personal injury lawsuit, but then left the law firm before a settlement was reached in the case, was not entitled to an equitable lien on the proceeds of the settlement, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.
Posted: Oct 3, 2018, 1:25 PM
A woman who fell and injured herself while washing her vehicle at a self-serve car wash is entitled to no-fault personal injury protection (PIP) benefits, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled in a 2-1 published decision.
Posted: Sep 26, 2018, 2:25 PM
Michigan is on the cutting edge when it comes to probate law, recently becoming the first state in the nation to recognize a note left on a cell phone as a valid “digital will.”
In a published decision, In re Estate of Horton (Docket No. 339737), the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled the decedent’s testamentary wishes, which were digitally stored on his cell phone, satisfied the requirements for a valid will under the Estates and Protected Individuals Code (EPIC).
Posted: Sep 20, 2018, 1:45 PM
An Ecuadorian mother’s taking of her minor child from Michigan to Ecuador in 2009 without notifying the father, in violation of the parties’ divorce judgment, did not preclude the possibility that the child had become a “habitual resident” of Ecuador for purposes of a Hague Convention challenge to the father’s 2016 failure to return the child to Ecuador after she visited him in Michigan, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
Posted: Sep 12, 2018, 11:30 AM
MCL 168.937, which is part of the state’s Election Law, is a penalty provision that does not create a substantive offense, the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled in a unanimous decision.
As a result, §937 could not be used as the basis to prosecute the defendant in People v Pinkney (Docket No. 154374), for alleged election-law forgery, the Supreme Court held.
Posted: Sep 6, 2018, 12:25 PM
A trial court erred in distributing a divorcing couple’s marital property because the parties’ prenuptial agreement was ignored in doing so, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.
In Silverman v Silverman (Docket No. 336905, unpublished opinion), the Court of Appeals said the trial court could not “simply disregard the prenuptial agreement and resort to equitable considerations without any analysis as to why it was doing so.”
Posted: Aug 29, 2018, 12:35 PM
Plaintiffs have a right to a jury trial in Circuit Court when bringing actions against the state under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled in a published decision.
Posted: Aug 15, 2018, 1:00 PM
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is making headlines for its recent ruling in an employment discrimination case, although probably not for the reason the Court would like: its decision.
Posted: Aug 15, 2018, 9:15 AM
A spousal support award and the division of property in a divorce case must be vacated because the trial court engaged in a “parade of errors” – namely, denying the husband’s constitutional right to counsel, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.
Posted: Aug 8, 2018, 1:15 PM
Michigan family-law attorneys can place a lien on a client’s property to be awarded in a divorce proceeding as payment for legal services – as long as certain requirements are met, according to a State Bar of Michigan ethics opinion.
Posted: Aug 1, 2018, 9:15 AM
The Michigan Court of Appeals has vacated an order denying a divorced father’s request to change the school his children attend, finding the trial court failed to 1) address the children’s established custodial environment, 2) describe the applicable burden of proof and 3) consider the Child Custody Act’s best-interest factors.
In Marik v Marik (Docket No. 333687), the Court of Appeals remanded the case so the trial court could properly handle these issues.
Posted: Jul 25, 2018, 3:30 PM
The Michigan Supreme Court recently issued its highly anticipated decision in Bazzi v Sentinel Ins Co, in which a majority of the justices declared that no-fault’s “innocent third-party rule” no longer exists.
Posted: Jul 13, 2018, 1:00 PM
A trial court judge did not have to disqualify himself from the defendant’s criminal case even though the judge had publicly endorsed the prosecutor in a Circuit Court election campaign, the Michigan Court of Appeals has decided.
Posted: Jul 9, 2018, 2:00 PM
A trial judge should not have stricken a plaintiff’s expert witnesses as a sanction for violating discovery orders, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled, finding that the sanction – which ultimately led to the dismissal of the plaintiff’s medical malpractice case – was too harsh.
Posted: Jul 3, 2018, 1:30 PM
An auto accident victim is entitled to no-fault insurance benefits under his parents’ no-fault policy where the victim’s parents committed insurance fraud after the policy was purchased and already in effect, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled in a 2-1 published decision.
Posted: Jun 25, 2018, 12:30 PM
A prosecutor’s “grossly improper” remarks during closing argument in a child abuse case, which were not corrected by the trial court, constituted deliberate prosecutorial misconduct and “poisoned the proceedings,” the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled, remanding the case for a new trial.
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