BEATRICE WOODS V DIETECH TOOL & MFG INC
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
BEATRICE WOODS, Personal Representative of
the Estate of HOWARD WOODS, Deceased
UNPUBLISHED
May 24, 2002
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v
No. 230629
Wayne Circuit Court
LC No. 99-903673-NI
DIETECH TOOL and MANUFACTURING,
INC., and RICHARD MARTZ,
Defendants-Appellees.
Before: Smolenski, P.J., and Neff and White, JJ.
WHITE, J. (dissenting).
I would remand for further proceedings. The circuit court was certainly justified in
finding fault with plaintiff for failing to provide any support for the claim that the accident
caused decedent’s death until one day before the hearing on the summary disposition motion,
when plaintiff presented the affidavit of a treating physician who had not been listed by name on
either of plaintiff’s witness lists.1 Further, the court correctly observed that the trial had been
adjourned so that defendants could bring their motion. Nevertheless, there is no explanation for
the court’s imposition of $5,000 costs as a condition for setting another trial date. There was no
discussion of the additional expense to defendants, or the purpose of the costs assessed, whether
to compensate defendants, or penalize plaintiff, only that the costs were imposed for the court
having adjourned a trial date so that plaintiff could come in with an affidavit at the last minute. I
would remand for further explanation or reconsideration of the amount.
/s/ Helene N. White
1
Plaintiff’s witness lists referred generically to “treating physicians.” This was insufficient.
-1-
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