Michigan Supreme Court Decisions 2011

Frazier v. Allstate Ins. Co. (Opinion)  
Date: December 21, 2011
Docket Number: 142545

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case concerned whether insurer Defendant-Appellant Allstate Insurance Company was liable to Plaintiff Mona Lisa Frazier for personal protection benefits under the state no-fault…

MONA LISA FRAZIER V ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY (Opinion)
Date: December 21, 2011
Docket Number: 142547
IN RE ADVISORY OPINION 2011 PA 38 (Opinion)
Date: November 18, 2011
Docket Number: 143157
Michigan v. Armstrong (Opinion)  
Date: October 26, 2011
Docket Number: 142762

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court was whether the ineffective assistance of Defendant Richard Armstrong's trial counsel by failing to introduce evidence of cell phone records that would have undermined the complainant's…

Driver v. Naini  
Date: August 1, 2011
Docket Number: 140922

Justia Opinion Summary: In this medical malpractice action, the issue before the Supreme Court pertained to whether Plaintiffs Willie and Beverly Driver were entitled to amend their original notice of intent (NOI) when adding a nonparty…

Duffy v. Dept. of Natural Resources  
Date: July 30, 2011
Docket Number: 140937

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Beverly Duffy was injured while riding an off-road vehicle on a trail owned by the State and maintained by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Plaintiff sued both entities, and throughout the litigation…

Hamed v. Wayne County  
Date: July 29, 2011
Docket Number: 139505

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case is the scope of an employer's vicarious liability for quid pro quo sexual harassment. Specifically, the Supreme Court considered whether Wayne County and its sheriff's department could be held…

Ligons v. Crittenton Hospital  
Date: July 29, 2011
Docket Number: 139978

Justia Opinion Summary: Edris Ligons underwent a colonoscopy. Four days later, she developed vomiting, diarrhea, chills and fever. She was admitted to the emergency room at Defendant Crittenton Hospital. Ms. Ligons refused to be admitted to the…

Krohn v. Home-Owners Insurance Co.  
Date: July 29, 2011
Docket Number: 140945

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Kevin Krohn suffered a severe spinal fracture that left him a paraplegic. Plaintiff brought suit under the state no-fault act seeking personal protection insurance benefits from Defendant Home-Owners Insurance…

Michigan v. Richardson  
Date: July 29, 2011
Docket Number: 141752

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Donald Richardson and his wife had a "poor relationship" with some of their neighbors which resulted in several altercations. One such altercation escalated and Defendant was charged with two counts of assault…

Michigan v. Fackelman  
Date: July 28, 2011
Docket Number: 139856

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Charles Fackelman was found guilty but mentally ill of home invasion, felonious assault, and felony-firearm charges that resulted from an altercation he had with a man Defendant believed caused the death of his…

Michigan v. Bonilla-Machado  
Date: July 26, 2011
Docket Number: 140510

Justia Opinion Summary: Three issues before the Supreme Court in this case arose from events that occurred in November 2007 while Defendant Johnny Bonilla-Machado was serving time at a correctional facility in Ionia. Defendant was there for…

Michigan v. Huston  
Date: July 26, 2011
Docket Number: 141312

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue before the Supreme Court was whether a trial court properly assessed fifteen points for an "offense variable" (OV) to Defendant Cecil Huston sentence when he engaged in "predatory conduct to exploit […] a…

Michigan v. Kowalski  
Date: July 26, 2011
Docket Number: 141695

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue before the Supreme Court was whether Defendant Edward Kowalski's convictions of accosting a minor to commit an immoral act and using a computer as means to accomplish that act should have been overturned because…

Miller-Davis Co. v. Ahrens Construction, Inc.  
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: 139666

Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether a limitations period applied to an action for breach of a construction contract. The Court of Appeals held that the limitations period applied in this case, and…

Michigan v. Dowdy  
Date: July 11, 2011
Docket Number: 140603

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether homeless sex offenders are obligated to comply with the registration requirement of the state Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA). Specifically, the issue centered on whether homeless…

Michigan v. Slaughter  
Date: July 1, 2011
Docket Number: 141009

Justia Opinion Summary: In this case, the Supreme Court was asked to determine whether the "community caretaking" exception to the Fourth Amendment's requirement that a warrant be obtained before entering a residence applied to a…

Michigan Edu. Ass'n v. Michigan Sec'y of State  
Date: June 30, 2011
Docket Number: 137451

Justia Opinion Summary: The Michigan Campaign Finance Act (MCFA) prohibits a "public body" from using public resources to make a "contribution or expenditure" for political purposes. At issue in this case what whether a public school district's…

Lawrence M. Clarke, Inc. v. Richco Construction, Inc.  
Date: June 30, 2011
Docket Number: 140683

Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether the trial court abused its discretion when it concluded that Defendants Richco Construction, Inc. (Richco) and Ronald Richards, Jr. were personally notified of the default judgment…

Michigan v. Lee  
Date: June 30, 2011
Docket Number: 141570

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2005, Defendant Kent Lee and his wife babysat their neighbor's two boys. Defendant prepared the children for bedtime by bathing them. The younger boy, a three-year-old, was uncooperative when Defendant tried to diaper…

Michigan v. Peltola  
Date: June 14, 2011
Docket Number: 140524

Justia Opinion Summary: A jury convicted Defendant-Appellant Drew Peltola on drug possession charges. The trial court considered Defendant's prior criminal history ("prior record variables" or PRVs), and calculated his sentence to be in the…

Loweke v. Ann Arbor Ceiling & Partition, Co., LLC  
Date: June 6, 2011
Docket Number: 141168

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Richard Loweke was an employee of an electrical subcontractor. Defendant Ann Arbor Ceiling & Partition Company was also a subcontractor. Both parties were hired for work on a construction project at the Detroit…

Beach v. Township of Lima  
Date: June 3, 2011
Docket Number: 139394

Justia Opinion Summary: The dispute in this case stemmed from a disagreement between Plaintiff Florence Beach and Defendant Lima Township over property rights to an area of land that were shown as streets on the recorded township plat. The land…

Midland Cogeneration Venture, LP v. Naftaly  
Date: May 23, 2011
Docket Number: 140814

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court consolidated nine separate cases for review. In each, Plaintiffs own property that was subject to state property taxes. Each Plaintiff described the property as “machinery and equipment.” For the 2008…

Priority Health v. Commn'r of the Ofc. of Financial & Ins. Svcs.  
Date: May 17, 2011
Docket Number: 139189

Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal challenged the small employer group health coverage act (Act), which establishes requirements for insurance carriers to offer health insurance benefit plans to small employers in Michigan. Priority Health…

Attorney General v. Clarke  
Date: May 17, 2011
Docket Number: 142550

Justia Opinion Summary: Former Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed Defendant Judge Hugh Clarke to the district court. The Attorney General claimed that Defendant was not entitled to hold office beyond January 1, 2011, and brought a quo…

Great Wolf Lodge of Traverse City, LLC v. Public Service Comm’n  
Date: May 9, 2011
Docket Number: 139541

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Great Wolf Lodge of Traverse City, LLC (Lodge) is a water park that sits on former farmland. In 2000, the Lodge annexed a new portion of the former farmland to expand its premises. Defendant Cherryland Electric…

Michigan v. Breidenbach  
Date: April 28, 2011
Docket Number: 140153

Justia Opinion Summary: In “People v. Helzer,” the Michigan Supreme Court held that when a criminal defendant is charged with being a sexually delinquent person in relation to an underlying sexual offense, separate juries must determine the…

NATHAN KLOOSTER V CITY OF CHARLEVOIX
Date: March 10, 2011
Docket Number: 140423
PEOPLE OF MI V DONALD ALLEN LOWN
Date: January 14, 2011
Docket Number: 139969
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