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Yesterday, the Michigan Supreme Court released a unanimous decision in People v Stevens, __ Mich __; __ NW2d__ (July 23, 2015) (Docket No. 149380), where it reversed a defendant's conviction for second degree murder and child abuse and remanded to the trial court for a new trial because of the trial judge's improper conduct that "pierced the veil of judicial impartiality."

In Heiden v Heiden, unpublished opinion in the Court of Appeals, issued February 26, 2015 (Docket No. 318245), the Court of Appeals used the statutory rules governing binding domestic-relations alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to set aside a common law mediation agreement that purported to divide the parties' property for their judgment of divorce.

In In re Dorsey, 306 Mich App 571; 858 NW2d 84 (2014), the appellant's son had been adjudicated delinquent and was subject to the jurisdiction of the family division of the circuit court. A child welfare/abuse and neglect case involving the appellant mother and the son ran concurrent with the juvenile adjudication hearings. Based on prior drug usage, under both the juvenile delinquency case and the child welfare case, the appellant mother was ordered to submit to drug testing. Once the child welfare case was closed, the appellant mother refused to comply with drug testing without consulting with her attorney. At a show cause hearing for failure to comply with the drug test order in the juvenile adjudication case, she said that she thought because her abuse and neglect case was over, she did not need to submit to drug testing, but that her son's probation officer had told her she wanted appellant mother to submit to drug testing for the delinquency case. The circuit court held her in contempt, sanctioning her with fines and 93 days in jail. The mother appealed the contempt order.

In Eddington v Torrez, 311 Mich App 198 (2015), the Court of Appeals addressed a narrow issue regarding defamation cases: "whether statements made to police regarding criminal activity are absolutely privileged and therefore immune from suit for defamation."