Michigan Supreme Court Decisions 2012
Date: December 21, 2012
Docket Number: 143386
Justia Opinion Summary: Jacob Trakhtenberg was convicted of three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. The charges stemmed from allegations of sexual contact made by defendant's then 8-year-old daughter. The issue before the Supreme…
Date: December 21, 2012
Docket Number: 144385
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Pamela Mattison, gave birth to twins who were conceived by artificial insemination after their father, Jeffery Mattison, had died. She sought social security survivors' benefits for the children based on…
Date: December 21, 2012
Docket Number: 144631
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Kurtis Minch pled guilty to possessing a short-barreled shotgun and possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony. The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether Michigan's "felon in…
Date: December 21, 2012
Docket Number: 144690
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was the manner in which defendant JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (Chase), the successor in interest to Washington Mutual Bank (WaMu), acquired plaintiffs' mortgage. Plaintiffs'…
Date: December 19, 2012
Docket Number: 143736
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether defendant was properly convicted of first degree criminal sexual assault under MCL 750.520b(1)(b)(ii), which requires that a defendant be related to the victim…
Date: December 19, 2012
Docket Number: 144120
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Ryan Bylsma, a registered primary caregiver under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act (MMMA), was charged with manufacturing marijuana in violation of state law. Defendant moved to dismiss the charge, asserting…
Date: December 12, 2012
Docket Number: 143244
Date: September 5, 2012
Docket Number: 145748
Justia Opinion Summary: In four cases, each involving a ballot proposal to amend the Michigan Constitution, the issue before the Supreme Court was whether the groups proposing the amendments properly exercised their right to petition for…
Date: September 5, 2012
Docket Number: 145753
Date: September 5, 2012
Docket Number: 145754
Date: September 5, 2012
Docket Number: 145755
Date: August 20, 2012
Docket Number: 140401
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was a passenger on a bus operated by the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) when the bus was involved in an accident. Plaintiff filed an application for no-fault benefits with…
Date: August 20, 2012
Docket Number: 142765
Justia Opinion Summary: Christina McCahan was injured in an automobile accident on the campus of the University of Michigan in 2007. The other driver, Samuel K. Brennan, was driving a car owned by the university and was on university business…
Date: August 16, 2012
Docket Number: 143329
Justia Opinion Summary: Marcy Hill, Patricia Hill, and Christopher Hill brought an action against Sears, Roebuck & Co., Sears Logistic Services, Inc., Merchant Delivery, Inc., Exel Direct, Inc., Mark Pritchard, Timothy Dameron, and others,…
Date: August 16, 2012
Docket Number: 143733
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Shawn Thomas Brown pled guilty to second-degree home invasion as a second-offense habitual offender. He was not informed by the court of his maximum possible sentence as an habitual offender before the plea was…
Date: August 3, 2012
Docket Number: 145387
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Stand Up for Democracy petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus to compel the Board of State Canvassers to certify its referendum petition for inclusion on the November 2012 ballot. Intervening…
Date: July 31, 2012
Docket Number: 140147
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether newly discovered impeachment evidence could constitute grounds for a new trial and, if so, under what circumstances. Defendant sought a retrial on the basis of…
Date: July 31, 2012
Docket Numbers: 141154, 141181, 141513
Justia Opinion Summary: These three cases involved the felony of failure to pay court-ordered child support (felony nonsupport) under MCL 750.165 and the rule of "Michigan v. Adams." The Supreme Court granted leave to consider the…
Date: July 31, 2012
Docket Number: 142267
Justia Opinion Summary: "Michigan, being above the 42nd parallel of north latitude, is prone to winter. . . . This case tests the extent of a premises owner's liability for [a] winter-related accident." In this case, plaintiff recognized the…
Date: July 31, 2012
Docket Numbers: 142874, 143330
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted leave in two cases to address the question whether a person injured while driving a motor vehicle that the person had taken contrary to the express prohibition of the owner may avail himself or…
Date: July 31, 2012
Docket Numbers: 143330, 142874
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted leave in two cases to address the question whether a person injured while driving a motor vehicle that the person had taken contrary to the express prohibition of the owner may avail himself or…
Date: July 31, 2012
Docket Number: 143942
Justia Opinion Summary: The Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC) recommended that the Supreme Court remove Respondent 22nd District Court Judge Sylvia A. James from office for judicial misconduct. Judge James filed a petition asking the Court to…
Date: July 30, 2012
Docket Number: 141932
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether expert witness testimony regarding interrogation techniques and psychological factors claimed to generate false confessions was admissible under MRE 702 and MRE…
Date: July 30, 2012
Docket Number: 143088
Justia Opinion Summary: In July 2004, while walking through a gas station parking lot, plaintiff was struck by a motor vehicle driven by defendant, who was insured by Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Company. At the time, plaintiff…
Date: July 30, 2012
Docket Number: 143123
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved the issue of the priority of competing liens between a court-appointed receiver and the holder of a first-recorded mortgage on real property located in DeWitt, Michigan. The receiver, Thomas Woods,…
Date: July 30, 2012
Docket Number: 143503
Justia Opinion Summary: The issues before the Supreme Court in this case was whether the services provided by plaintiff's wife constituted services "for an injured person's care," whether the Court of Appeals properly remanded this case to the…
Date: July 27, 2012
Docket Number: 142339
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Cedroni Associates, Inc. was the lowest bidder on a public contract. The issue before the Supreme Court was whether Plaintiff had a valid business expectancy for the purpose of sustaining a claim of tortious…
Date: July 27, 2012
Docket Number: 143343
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether Michigan State University (MSU) Ordinance 15.05 is facially unconstitutional. This case arose from a parking citation that Defendant Jared Rapp received when…
Date: July 23, 2012
Docket Number: 138952
Justia Opinion Summary: In this joint and several liability medical malpractice case, Defendant Dr. Martin Tuma sought a reduction of the final judgment rendered against him by the amount of his codefendants' settlement. The issue before the…
Date: July 12, 2012
Docket Number: 144036
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court was whether a Michigan Department of State (DOS) certificate of mailing is testimonial in nature, and whether its admission without accompanying witness testimony violated the…
Date: July 9, 2012
Docket Number: 142627
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court was whether Defendant-Appellant Joseph Vaughn was entitled to a new trial because the circuit court closed the courtroom during voir dire in violation of defendant's constitutional…
Date: June 28, 2012
Docket Number: 141741
Justia Opinion Summary: This case presented the question of whether Defendant Ramon Bryant was denied his Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury drawn from a fair cross section of the community. A fair-cross-section claim under the Sixth…
Date: June 15, 2012
Docket Number: 142774
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-Appellee McKinley Hyten obtained a provisional driver's license in April 2004. In January 2007, Defendant's driver's license was suspended because of multiple moving violations and two minor traffic accidents.…
Date: June 14, 2012
Docket Numbers: 143087, 143086, 143085
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue in these consolidated cases involved interpretation of the General Property Tax Act. For this case, the Supreme Court addressed whether the tax assessor's failure to adjust the taxable value of a parcel of real…
Date: June 14, 2012
Docket Number: 143281
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue in these consolidated cases involved interpretation of the General Property Tax Act. For this case, the Supreme Court addressed whether the Tax Tribunal has the authority to reduce an unconstitutional increase…
Date: June 8, 2012
Docket Numbers: 142751, 142031
Justia Opinion Summary: In two consolidated cases, the issue central to both involved MCL 768.27a(1). In relevant part, in a criminal case in which the defendant is accused of committing a listed offense against a minor, evidence that the…
Date: June 5, 2012
Docket Number: 142127
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff-Appellee Candice Johnson suffered a lost pregnancy at 20 weeks’ gestation, and on behalf of herself and the deceased fetus, Baby Johnson, sued Defendant-Appellant Rajan Pastoriza, M.D. and his professional…
Date: May 31, 2012
Docket Numbers: 142695, 142712, 142850
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted leave in three cases to consider the substantive and procedural aspects of the affirmative defense of medical use of marijuana under section 8, MCL 333.26428, of the Michigan Medical Marihuana…
Date: May 30, 2012
Docket Number: 142442
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court was whether the death of a coperpetrator of a crime may be scored under offense variable (OV) 3, MCL 777.33, which concerns "physical injury to a victim." Upon review, the Court…
Date: May 30, 2012
Docket Number: 142956
Justia Opinion Summary: This case involved a policy for uninsured-motorist (UM) coverage issued by Defendant State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company which contained a 30-day notice provision regarding hit-and-run motor vehicle claims.…
Date: May 25, 2012
Docket Number: 143046
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court was whether MCR 6.302 and constitutional due process require a trial court to inform a defendant pleading guilty or no contest to first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC-I) or…
Date: May 24, 2012
Docket Number: 142698
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant James Buie was convicted in 2001 of sexually assaulting BS and two female minors: LS, age 13, and DS, age 9. The assaults occurred after BS, seeking to trade sex for cocaine, invited defendant into the…
Date: May 17, 2012
Docket Number: 141810
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this case was whether a municipality such as a township could be held responsible under MCL 324.3109(2) of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA)1 for raw sewage discharged into state…
Date: May 17, 2012
Docket Number: 142537
Justia Opinion Summary: This case required the Supreme Court to revisit and reemphasize, several aspects of the test governing motions for a new trial, set forth in "Michigan v. Cress" (664 NW2d 174 (2003)). The Court began with "the…
Date: May 15, 2012
Docket Number: 141161
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Glenn Williams appealed his conviction of armed robbery, arguing that because he was unsuccessful in feloniously taking or removing any actual property from the intended target of his robbery, there was not a…
Date: May 15, 2012
Docket Number: 142615
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted Defendant Auto Club Insurance Association's bypass application for leave to appeal in this case to determine whether the minority/insanity tolling provision of MCL 600.5851(1) applied to toll…
Date: May 14, 2012
Docket Number: 142913
Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted the prosecution’s application for leave to appeal to resolve whether Michigan law recognizes the doctrine of "imperfect self-defense" as an independent theory that automatically mitigates…
Date: May 4, 2012
Docket Numbers: 142759, 143673
Justia Opinion Summary: In combined cases, the Supreme Court examined the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) to decide whether several issues relating to the Act's notice provision mandate notice be sent to the appropriate tribe or to the…
Date: May 4, 2012
Docket Numbers: 143673, 142759
Justia Opinion Summary: In combined cases, the Supreme Court examined the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) to decide whether several issues relating to the Act's notice provision mandate notice be sent to the appropriate tribe or to the…
Date: April 20, 2012
Docket Number: 141837
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose from a physical struggle between Defendant Angel Moreno, Jr. and two Holland police officers when the officers sought to enter Defendant's home without a warrant. As a result, Defendant was charged with…
Date: March 26, 2012
Docket Number: 141381
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court was whether the Double Jeopardy Clauses of the Michigan and federal constitutions barred defendant's retrial. Defendant Lamar Evans was accused of burning a vacant house. There was no…
Date: January 27, 2012
Docket Number: 142076
Justia Opinion Summary: The Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC) recommended that the Supreme Court remove Respondent 12th District Court Judge James Justin from office for numerous instances of documented judicial misconduct. Respondent's multiple…
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