Michigan Supreme Court Addresses the Ability to Add Non-Party At Fault Through Amendment of the Complaint
By Matthew Smith Notices of non-party fault are common and frequently lead to multi-defendant, multi-tiered litigation. After a plaintiff asserts one or more claims against a defendant, MCR 2.112(K)(3)(a) requires defendant to file a notice identifying any non-party the defendant believes “is wholly or partially at fault.” The notice “must be filed within 91 days after the party...Michigan Supreme Court Makes Two Clarifications to the Summary Disposition Standard
By Stephen McKenney The Michigan Supreme Court recently clarified the standard for evaluating motions for summary disposition based on the plaintiff’s failure to state a claim for relief (i.e., MCR 2.116(C)(8)). The July 10, 2019 opinion in El-Khalil v Oakwood Healthcare, Inc. (Docket No. 157846) made two important holdings regarding how trial courts should evaluate: (1) pleading the...Michigan Supreme Court Adopts New Civil Discovery Rules
By Stephen McKenney Culminating a years-long review process – the progress of which we have been tracking closely – the Michigan Supreme Court made it official in June 2019: it has adopted the State Bar of Michigan’s Civil Discovery Amendments. The changes to the civil discovery rules will become effective January 1, 2020. The new rules are available online. ...Wait, What Happened to MCR 2.114?
By Steve McKenney Michigan state court litigators are familiar with MCR 2.114, the court rule that, among other things, authorizes the court to impose sanctions against a party or an attorney for filing any paper with the court that is not well grounded in fact or warranted by existing law. MCR 2.114 is the main tool courts use to punish parties and attorneys for taking a frivolous...Expert Witnesses Beware – The Court of Appeals Expands Professional Malpractice Liability
By Laura DePonio In a case of first impression, the Michigan Court of Appeals recently ruled that expert witnesses in professional malpractice actions may themselves be sued for malpractice if their testimony is not competent. The court ruled that witness immunity does not apply to bar all claims against expert witnesses. Voutsaras v. Mogill, issued January 3, 2019 (Docket No...Declarations Allowed to Replace Affidavits (on a Limited Basis) in Michigan State Courts
By Matt Smith Amidst the September 1, 2018 e-filing uniformity revisions to MCR 1.109, the Michigan Supreme Court inched a bit closer to providing Michigan state court litigators a tool previously reserved for federal practice – the unsworn, un-notarized declaration. For those unfamiliar with this creature of federal statute, please check out the prior post here:...
More Changes In Receivership Law — The New Uniform Commercial Real Estate Receivership Act
This year the Michigan Legislature joined the Michigan Supreme Court in revising the state’s approach to receiverships. For many years, receiverships have been equitable creatures, controlled by the trial courts, with only minimal guidance from the governing statutes and court rules. The Michigan Supreme Court started changing this landscape with its expansion of MCR 2.621 and MCR...
Beware The "Tender Back Rule" When Pursuing Previously Released Claims
Most civil litigation ends with a settlement agreement in which the parties agree to compromise their claims and defenses, dismiss the underlying lawsuit and release all claims they have against one another. Normally this ends the matter and the parties go their separate ways. But what happens when one party breaches the settlement agreement? What options does the...
The “Conditional Dismissal” – A New Tool For Settlements In Michigan
Effective May 1, 2018, the Michigan Court Rules were amended to create the new rule MCR 2.602(C). The rule describes a procedure for entering a “conditional dismissal” of an action once a settlement is reached, but before the settlement is complete. The rule addresses the long-standing problem of what happens when parties to litigation decide to settle the action by exchanging settlement...