Injury and damage are distinct concepts
The comparative negligence statutes don’t apply to a situation where a later intervening cause may have contributed to the plaintiff’s injury, the Michigan Court of Appeals held. The court ruled that...
View ArticleSex change didn’t make marriage a same-sex union
A man’s sex-change operation doesn’t turn his marriage into an unlawful same-sex union, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled. The defendant sought to argue that after gender reassignment surgery,...
View Article‘Preponderance of evidence’ needed to end parent’s rights
Trial judges who oversee juvenile cases must use a preponderance of the evidence standard to determine whether it is in a child’s best interests to take away a parent’s rights, the Michigan Court of...
View ArticlePlaintiff must get same exam for second suit
A plaintiff must get an independent medical examination in a third-party no-fault case even though she already had the same exam in the prior lawsuit against her own insurance company, the Michigan...
View ArticleWorkers’ Compensation – Statutory release of independent medical exam records...
Documents created in the course of an insurer-requested independent medical examination of a workers’ compensation claimant are not subject to disclosure under the Medical Records Access Act.
View ArticleWorkers’ comp claimant can’t get copy of her IME
A woman seeking workers' compensation for a bad shoulder cannot get a copy of the independent medical examination ordered by her insurance company, the Michigan Court of Appeals has held in a split...
View ArticleMoney used to keep business afloat was not ‘income’
Just like taking money from savings accounts for living expenses, withdrawing money from investment accounts to maintain a business is not "income" for child-support calculations, says the Michigan...
View ArticleGovernmental Immunity – Material dispute whether road was in reasonable repair
A plaintiff who alleged that she was injured when she tripped on a spike protruding from a road has created a material dispute whether defendant city kept the road in reasonable repair, and whether...
View ArticleCivil Procedure – Sufficient evidence to support $20.4M default judgment
Plaintiff provided sufficient evidence to support the trial court’s entry of a $20.4 million judgment in a construction loan default case.
View ArticleMedical Malpractice – Plaintiff improperly cast med-mal claim as fraud and...
Where plaintiff alleged claims for negligence and fraud, arising from defendants’ alleged failure to provide information about the anesthesia used during his surgery, and using trickery to obtain his...
View ArticleFamily Law – Child support order based on inaccurate income calculation
The trial court’s child support order is vacated because the court did not accurately calculate defendant’s income and failed to follow the requirements for deviating from the Michigan Child Support...
View ArticleNegligence – Hospital’s actions not proximate cause of arrest and confinement
Where plaintiff was arrested and eventually confined to a mental health facility after he activated a hospital’s fire sprinkler system with his lighter, the hospital’s failure to confiscate the lighter...
View ArticleReal Property – Foreclosing bank liable for condo fees from date of purchase
Liability attached on the sale date by virtue of the equitable title the bank acquired. The bank is not liable for unpaid fees that accrued before the sheriff’s sale.
View ArticleBank owes condo fees only from foreclosure date
A bank that foreclosed on a condominium unit and bought it at a sheriff’s sale is not liable for condominium association assessments incurred before the sale, the Michigan Court of Appeals has held.
View ArticleIn their opinions: You can’t have your cake and eat it, too
“As the Michigan Supreme Court observed, while a plaintiff ‘may well find himself in a bind … the Legislature has made it so.’”
View ArticleNo-Fault – Equitable estoppels bars attendant-care benefits claim
The trial court correctly dismissed plaintiff’s claim that defendant insurer should be equitably stopped from invoking the one-year back rule to limit plaintiff’s claim for attendant care benefits.
View ArticleLawyers cannot interview child in custody dispute
The court — not the attorneys — may talk to the child privately, says the Michigan Court of Appeals.
View ArticleFamily Law – Temporary custody change without evidentiary hearing was error
The trial court erred by awarding defendant father temporary sole custody of the parties’ child without conducting an evidentiary hearing.
View ArticleFamily Law – Court properly allowed counsel to withdraw on day of trial
The trial court did not abuse its discretion by allowing defense counsel to withdraw from this divorce case on the day of trial, and then refusing to grant an adjournment.
View ArticleAppeals court: Oakland judge ‘hastily’ dismissed case as sanction
The discovery violation — not answering certain interrogatories — was "minor" and the judge should have considered other options, says the Michigan Court of Appeals.
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