STEVEN RAAB V RIVER RIDGE-SALINE LLC
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
STEVEN RAAB and AMBER RAAB,
UNPUBLISHED
May 12, 2009
Plaintiffs-Appellants/CrossAppellees,
v
No. 280335
Washtenaw Circuit Court
LC No. 05-000326-CE
RIVER RIDGE-SALINE, LLC,
Defendant-Appellee/CrossAppellant.
Before: Bandstra, P.J., and Whitbeck and Shapiro, JJ.
SHAPIRO, J. (concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur in the affirmance of the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion for summary
disposition seeking dismissal of plaintiff’s case. I respectfully dissent from the majority’s
affirmance of the trial court’s transfer of the case to the district court based upon its finding that
plaintiff’s damages do not exceed $25,000.
The majority relies on Administrative Order 1998-1 as the basis for the transfer to district
court. That Administrative Order provides for transfer only where the circuit court finds “to a
legal certainty” that the amount in controversy is not greater than the district court’s
jurisdictional limit. Further, that demanding determination must be made based on the
allegations in the complaint. Etefia v Credit Tech, 245 Mich App 466, 475; 628 NW2d 577
(2001). The instant case involves claims of nuisance, wrongful eviction and negligence and
seeks both economic and non-economic damages. While the proofs attached to the summary
disposition motion and response do not appear to provide a basis for economic damages in
excess of the district court’s jurisdictional limit, non-economic damages by their nature “cannot
be proved in a precise dollar amount” and “the law leaves such amount to [the] sound judgment
[of a jury].” SJI2d 50.01. Accordingly, I conclude that this is not a case under which transfer to
the district court can be made under AO 1998-1.
/s/ Douglas B. Shapiro
-1-
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