Speaker Law
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Posted: Dec 22, 2017, 4:25 PM
Charging Lien: Discharged attorneys may obtain a charging lien, which “is an equitable right to have the fees and costs due for services secured out of the judgment or recovery in a particular suit.” George v Sandor M Gelman, PC, 201 Mich App 474 (1993).
Posted: Dec 5, 2017, 2:35 PM
Change in circumstances often lead to a motion to change custody. In D’itri v Bollinger, unpublished per curiam opinion of the Court of Appeals, Docket 337815 (2017), the mother of the child filed a motion to change custody claiming there was a change in circumstances in the child’s living situation.
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: Nov 16, 2017, 10:00 AM
For the second time and on identical issues, the matter of In re Jones, Minors, No. 336836, came before the Michigan Court of Appeals (MCOA) on the father’s appeal of a circuit court order terminating his parental rights. The MCOA again reversed and remanded for further proceedings, this time before a different jurist.
Posted: Nov 6, 2017, 3:30 PM
In its recently published opinion, In re Guardianship of Dorothy Redd, __ Mich App __; __ NW2d __ (2017) (Docket 335152), the Court of Appeals addressed the standard for removal as well as the burden of proof for removing the guardian of an adult. The case involved Dorothy, an incapacitated elderly woman, Gary, her son, and Nichole, Gary’s daughter and Dorothy’s granddaughter. Gary had served as Dorothy’s guardian for 2 years.
Posted: Nov 1, 2017, 2:30 PM
A writ of garnishment, upheld by the lower court following a motion to quash, was reversed and remanded by the Michigan Court of Appeals (COA) in DC Mex Holdings LLC v Affordable Land LLC (Docket 332489) due to trial court error.
Posted: Oct 30, 2017, 12:20 PM
Defendant Timothy Horton was charged with breaking and entering with the intent to commit larceny as a fourth habitual offender. Horton agreed to plead no contest to the charge, in exchange for being charged as a second habitual offender. At the sentencing hearing, Horton moved to withdraw his plea, claiming that it was not freely, knowingly, and voluntarily made. His motion was denied and he was sentenced.
Posted: Oct 26, 2017, 2:00 PM
The International Child Abduction Remedies Act and the Hague Convention are both in place to ensure that one parent is unable to abduct the children from the other parent, alienating them from their children. Ahmed v Ahmed, 867 F3d 682 (2017), is a case looking at both of these laws. The father seeks to have his children returned to the United Kingdom from the United States. For the father to obtain a remedy both countries must be part of the Hague Convention–and they are. Then under the Hague Convention there are two methods to determine the child’s proper habitual residence.
Posted: Oct 23, 2017, 1:05 PM
Recently, the Speaker Law Firm obtained a published opinion on the post-judgment of divorce case of O’Leary v O’Leary, ___ Mich App ___ (Docket 333519), which has broad application beyond the family law context.
Posted: Oct 19, 2017, 1:00 PM
Defendant Jeffrey Titus, convicted in 2002 by jury trial of the first-degree premeditated murders of Doug Estes and James Bennett, likes to spend time in litigation. We first wrote about him in Estes v Titus (July 2008) where the wife of Estes was trying to collect a wrongful death judgment from Titus who had transferred all his assets to his wife when they divorced. The Supreme Court ruled - with a caveat - that a property division in a divorce could be the subject of a Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act action. Speaker Law Firm wrote the amicus brief for the Family Law Section (the Supreme Court disagreed with our position, but the concurring opinion by Marilyn Kelly did agree with us).
Posted: Oct 17, 2017, 3:35 PM
Ineffective assistance of counsel is an incredibly difficult burden for a criminal defendant to prove – “to establish a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, the defendant must show that ‘counsel’s representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness’ under prevailing professional norms and that there is a ‘reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.’” People v Gioglio, 296 Mich App 12 (2012), quoting Strickland v Washington, 466 US 668, 688, 694; 104 St Ct 2052; 80 L Ed 2d 674 (1984). People v Carver, unpublished per curiam opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued August 29, 2017 (Docket No 328157), deals with the issue of the defense attorney who had knowledge of an essential expert witness, but failed to utilize this expert.
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: Sep 26, 2017, 3:45 PM
In the case of Shimel v. McKinley, (DocketNo. 329144), the Michigan Court of Appeals remanded the matter to the trial court because the order changing the child’s school district altered the joint-custodian’s parenting time from every other week to alternating weekends and resulted in a change in the child’s custodial environment which requires the moving party to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the change was in the child’s best interests.
Posted: Sep 21, 2017, 11:30 AM
A divorce judgment has been entered, with a retirement plan involved. How long do the parties have to enter their QDRO (qualified domestic relations order) to effectuate the division of the retirement accounts?
Posted: Sep 12, 2017, 8:10 AM
Adoption attorneys and adoption agencies laud the Court of Appeals published decision in “the Adoption Trilogy,” In Re MJG and In Re BGP/JSP. (See July 12, 2017 blog - Adoption Trilogy secures the future of direct placement adoptions in Michigan). However, there are a few weak spots to the Court of Appeals' analysis, and provides something to keep in mind for future cases.
Posted: Aug 28, 2017, 4:50 PM
The Michigan legislature is trying to pass legislation called the Michigan Shared Parenting Act, HB 4691, http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(2bjmoemzoxqbnuuhgn2vbgxb))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=2017-HB-4691, which completely throws out over 30 years of statute and case law, and favors consistency (in the form of joint custody for all cases) over the best interests of the children.
Posted: Aug 2, 2017, 3:55 PM
The Michigan Court of Appeals, in Hund v Hund, No.334313, a divided opinion, affirmed a lower court order that denied defendant-mother’s request to change the legal residence of the child, OMH, to Canada while granting plaintiff-father’s motion for primary physical custody. The dissenting opinion, written by Hon. Michael Gadola, argued that a change of domicile to Canada was warranted and that the lower court abused its discretion by granting the father’s motion for change of custody.
Posted: Jul 28, 2017, 9:35 AM
The Michigan Court of Appeals (MCOA) vacated and remanded the trial court’s order in Fante v Nova, Nos. 334735, 336085 saying of the changes made in this custody dispute that were not a short removal, even though classified as "temporary".
Posted: Jul 24, 2017, 12:00 PM
Michigan Court of Appeals, in People v Killich, No. 329941, held that the Juvenile Code doesn’t allow for the imposition of a flat rate probation supervision fee, and vacated the trial court order imposing the fee and remanded for a corrected order of disposition.
Posted: Jul 17, 2017, 5:10 PM
The term Cat’s Paw comes from an old fable in which a conniving monkey convinces a cat to reach into a fire to get roasting chestnuts. The cat is duped, burns its paw and the monkey enjoys the chestnuts with no harm. In the employment discrimination context, ‘cat’s paw’ refers to a situation in which a biased subordinate, who lacks decision making power, uses the formal decision maker as a dupe in a deliberate scheme to trigger a discriminatory employment action.” (EEOC v. BCI Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles,) 450 F.3d 476, 484 (10th Cir. 2006).
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