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Posted: Aug 12, 2020, 10:45 AM
Twenty-year-old Ledura Watkins was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1976. A Detroit jury found him guilty based on a single piece of evidence: a strand of hair allegedly found on the victim’s pants.
In 2017 – more than 40 years later – a 61-year-old Watkins walked out of the Wayne County Jail a free man.
Posted: Jan 18, 2018, 11:00 AM
Kevin Clark and Erica Kosinski had a child together. Their tumultuous relationship ended in a child custody dispute. During that time, Clark found listening devices and GPS tracking devices concealed in the child’s clothing during his parenting time.
Posted: Jan 9, 2018, 2:30 PM
A defendant must understand their plea before it can be entered in front of the court. With juveniles, MCR 3.941(C) says “the court shall tell the juvenile: the possible dispositions.” At a very basic level this means that the defendant must understand the consequences of what will come as a result of their plea.
Posted: Nov 20, 2017, 4:05 PM
In In re LMB (Docket No. 338169), the Court of Appeals held that entry of an order of filiation while an adoption appeal was pending mooted the adoption appeal.
Posted: Oct 2, 2017, 2:25 PM
MCR 2.613(B) sets out the limitations on error-correction by one judge of the orders of another judge and provides the following:
A judgment or order may be set aside or vacated, and a proceeding under a judgment or order may be stayed, only by the judge who entered the judgment or order, unless that judge is absent or unable to act. If the judge who entered the judgment or order is absent or unable to act, an order vacating or setting aside the judgment or order or staying proceedings under the judgment or order may be entered by a judge otherwise empowered to rule in the matter.
Posted: Jun 27, 2017, 2:50 PM
On June 15, 2017, the Michigan Supreme Court decided Kemp v Farm Bureau General Insurance Company of Michigan (Docket No. 151719), a case concerning a plaintiff’s claim for personal injury benefits when he was injured while unloading items from his vehicle.
Posted: Jun 2, 2017, 3:50 PM
In this case of consolidated appeals, People v Thomas, No. 329448 and People v Gordon, No. 329449, the Michigan Court of Appeals affirms the case against Clifford Thomas but vacates Jasmine Gordon’s conviction and remands for a new trial due to the ineffective assistance of Gordon’s counsel.
Posted: Dec 14, 2016, 3:10 PM
The probate Court can admit an unsigned will to probate if the proponent of the will establishes, by clear and convincing evidence, that the decedent intended the document to be his or her will. The Michigan Court of Appeals (MCOA) reached this decision in a published opinion (In re Estate of Sabry Mohamed Attia).
Posted: Oct 3, 2016, 1:35 PM
The Supreme Court (SCt.), after granting leave and taking full briefing and arguments in Black v Shafer, (149516), reversed the Michigan Court of Appeals (312379) and reinstated Wayne County Circuit Order granting Summary Disposition in favor of the defendant Anthony Shafer. The SCt decided the case on proximate cause, which was not an issue it asked the parties to address.
Posted: Sep 23, 2016, 11:35 AM
In A B Petro Mart, Inc v Prime One Ins, 317 Mich App 290 (2016) Docket 327481, an insurance coverage action, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that a corporate Plaintiff had an insurable interest in the property at issue, despite the fact that it did not own the property.
Posted: Jul 1, 2016, 3:45 PM
The Court of Appeals (COA) reversed the decision of the probate court, confirmed by the circuit court, because of the incorrect application of preclusion principles to the Petitioner’s Petition for a change of Guardianship. The matter was returned to the Probate Court for further proceedings.
DHHS and Courts Must Actively Assist Intellectually, Cognitively or Developmentally Impaired Parents
Posted: Jun 8, 2016, 10:05 AM
The Court of Appeals (COA) vacated a trial court’s order terminating the parental rights of a cognitively impaired young woman due to the repeated failure of the DHHS to make reasonable efforts to reunify the family.
Posted: May 4, 2016, 11:00 AM
In Teruya v Burgan, Docket No. 325126, issued April 7, 2016, a Michigan mother and Californian father of three children, who were conceived by in vitro fertilization insemination, disputed rights regarding parenting time and the father filed a complaint for paternity in Wayne Circuit Court.
Posted: May 14, 2014, 12:35 PM
On December 10, 2013, in an unpublished opinion, the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld sanctions for the violation of a consent order that was entered after the discovery deadline had already passed.
Posted: Nov 13, 2013, 12:35 PM
The Court of Appeals in an unpublished per curiam opinion reversed and remanded the Circuit Court order in a termination of parental right case.
Posted: Sep 16, 2013, 10:30 AM
Appellate attorneys frequently wrestle with the lower courts register of actions. Sometimes it answers your questions, sometimes it raises more.
Posted: May 2, 2012, 8:10 AM
The Court of Appeals in Frowner v Smith, published opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued April 26, 2012 (Docket 305704), addressed whether a parent has to satisfy the Vodvarka threshold to change custody from a third party custodian.
Posted: Oct 28, 2010, 11:10 AM
In a published opinion, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that MCR 8.119(F)(5) does not give a trial court the discretion to seal prior court orders.
Posted: Sep 9, 2010, 3:15 PM
In People v Tennyson, the MSC held that the possession of drugs and firearms, by itself, was not legally sufficient to support the defendant's conviction under MCL 750.145 for doing an act that "tended to cause a minor child to become neglected or delinquent so as to tend to come under the jurisdiction of the family division of the circuit court."
Posted: Mar 26, 2010, 9:40 AM
In Dybata v Wayne County, a published opinion, the COA held that the county was not entitled summary disposition based on governmental immunity because the sewage exception to immunity applied even where the plaintiffs failed to expressly comply with notice requirements.
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