Michigan Supreme Court Decisions 2014
Date: December 22, 2014
Docket Number: 147794
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs were taxpayers and school districts seeking a declaratory judgment that the amount of funding appropriated by the Legislature to fund new and increased recordkeeping requirements was materially deficient.…
Date: December 22, 2014
Docket Number: 148617
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Columbia Township Board of Trustees and Columbia Township Planning Commission appealed the Court of Appeals’ decision holding that plaintiff Kenneth Speicher was entitled to an award of court costs and actual…
Date: December 19, 2014
Docket Numbers: 146763, 147335
Justia Opinion Summary: Heather Hannay brought an action against the Department of Transportation (MDOT), seeking damages for injuries she suffered when a salt truck driven by one of MDOT’s employees ran a stop sign and struck her car. After a…
Date: December 19, 2014
Docket Number: 147335
Date: December 18, 2014
Docket Number: 147296
Justia Opinion Summary: The Wayne County Employees Retirement System and the Wayne County Retirement Commission filed suit against Wayne Charter County and the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, alleging that a county ordinance defendants…
Date: December 16, 2014
Docket Number: 149242
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff initiated a FOIA request, and ultimately this FOIA lawsuit, to receive materials related to pending criminal proceedings that were in defendants’ possession, including video surveillance recordings created by…
Date: December 2, 2014
Docket Number: 149127
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Deandre Woolfolk was convicted by a jury for first-degree murder and possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony for his part in a fatal shooting that took place two hours before his 18th birthday.…
Date: November 25, 2014
Docket Number: 149036
Justia Opinion Summary: While working on a fall clean-up job for defendant All Star Specialists Plus, Inc., defendant Joseph Derry was loading leaves into a truck using a leaf vacuum machine when the machine tipped over, injuring him. At the…
Date: November 18, 2014
Docket Number: 147647
Justia Opinion Summary: Michele Dupree sued Auto-Owners Insurance Company, seeking to recover, under her homeowners’ insurance policy, the full cost of repair or replacement for the personal property that was destroyed in a fire at her home.…
Date: November 18, 2014
Docket Number: 149355
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, who was injured while working in Genesee County, filed a workers’ compensation claim. While his claim was pending, defendants, in their capacity as administrators of the workers’ compensation hearing system,…
Date: July 15, 2014
Docket Number: 146289
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Benjamin Taub founded Dataspace, Incorporated, in 1994. In 2002, Taub hired plaintiff Rama Madugula as vice president of sales and business development for Dataspace. Around this time, Dataspace also hired an…
Date: July 14, 2014
Docket Number: 146440
Justia Opinion Summary: International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) brought an action in the Court of Claims against the Department of Treasury to challenge the department's ruling that IBM was not entitled to apportion its business…
Date: July 11, 2014
Docket Number: 147261
Justia Opinion Summary: Levon Bynum was charged with first-degree murder, two counts of assault with intent to murder, carrying a concealed weapon, and felony-firearm following a shooting that had occurred outside a party store in Battle Creek.…
Date: July 10, 2014
Docket Number: 145646
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury convicted Jeffery Douglas of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (victim under the age of 13) and second-degree criminal sexual conduct (victim under the age of 13). The charges arose from statements by his…
Date: July 8, 2014
Docket Numbers: 146478, 146819, 147428
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue these cases presented to the Supreme Court were: (1) whether "Miller v Alabama," (132 S Ct 2455 (2012)), should have been applied retroactively (pursuant to either the federal or state test for retroactivity)…
Date: July 8, 2014
Docket Number: 146819
Date: July 8, 2014
Docket Number: 147428
Date: June 26, 2014
Docket Numbers: 146433, 146434, 146435
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal involved Empire Fire and Marine Insurance Company's obligations under an "Insurance for Non-Trucking Use" policy issued to Drielick Trucking. The policy contained a business-use exclusion, which included two…
Date: June 26, 2014
Docket Number: 146962
Justia Opinion Summary: This case began as a dispute between the parties regarding whether plaintiff owed tax under the now-repealed Single Business Tax Act (SBTA) related to plaintiff's contributions to its Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary…
Date: June 26, 2014
Docket Number: 147391
Justia Opinion Summary: Matthew McKinley was convicted by a jury of larceny over $20,000, malicious destruction of property over $20,000, and inducing a minor to commit a felony in connection with a series of thefts of commercial air…
Date: June 25, 2014
Docket Number: 146033
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented to the Supreme Court was whether a trial court's failure to provide the appellant-surety notice within seven days of defendant's failure to appear barred forfeiture of the bail bond posted…
Date: June 25, 2014
Docket Number: 147522
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner-mother and respondent were married in 2003 and had one child, AJR, during their marriage. They divorced in 2009. The divorce judgment gave the parties joint legal custody of the child, gave physical custody to…
Date: June 23, 2014
Docket Number: 145557
Justia Opinion Summary: Andrie Inc. brought an action in the Court of Claims, seeking a refund of use taxes it had paid under protest for the years 1999 through 2006 after an audit by the Department of Treasury determined that Andrie had…
Date: June 23, 2014
Docket Number: 146211
Justia Opinion Summary: George Tanner was charged with open murder and mutilation of a dead body. After his arrest, he was taken to jail and read his Miranda rights. Defendant invoked his right to counsel and questioning ceased. The next day,…
Date: June 23, 2014
Docket Number: 146802
Justia Opinion Summary: The Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC) filed a formal complaint against Wayne Circuit Court Judge Bruce Morrow, alleging 10 counts of judicial misconduct that arose out of criminal cases over which he had presided. After…
Date: June 18, 2014
Docket Number: 146480
Justia Opinion Summary: In December 2009, defendant was convicted by a jury of first-degree felony murder, second-degree murder, assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder, carrying a firearm during the commission of a…
Date: June 18, 2014
Docket Number: 147187
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was a passenger in an automobile that was stopped by the police for a traffic violation. As defendant exited the vehicle, officers observed defendant drop a silver automatic handgun into the map pocket of the…
Date: June 18, 2014
Docket Number: 147437
Date: June 18, 2014
Docket Number: 147437
Date: June 13, 2014
Docket Number: 147150
Date: June 13, 2014
Docket Number: 147150
Justia Opinion Summary: George Badeen (a licensed collection agency manager) and Midwest Recovery and Adjustment, Inc. (a licensed collection agency that Badeen owned and operated) brought a class action against PAR, Inc.; Remarketing…
Date: June 11, 2014
Docket Number: 146791
Justia Opinion Summary: Before the Supreme Court, three actions: two class actions and a qui tam action brought in the name of the state of Michigan involving allegations that multiple pharmacies systematically violated MCL 333.17755(2) by…
Date: June 10, 2014
Docket Number: 146722
Date: June 10, 2014
Docket Number: 146724
Justia Opinion Summary: Chrysler Group, LLC and plaintiff LaFontaine Saline Inc. (LaFontaine), an authorized Chrysler automobile dealer, entered into a Dealer Agreement in 2007, granting LaFontaine the non-exclusive right to sell Dodge vehicles…
Date: June 10, 2014
Docket Number: 146725
Justia Opinion Summary: Terri Sholberg died when the car she was driving hit a horse standing in the road. Diane Sholberg, as personal representative of her estate, sued Daniel Truman (the owner of the horse, which had escaped from its stall)…
Date: June 3, 2014
Docket Number: 146867
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff-appellant Matthew Makowski filed an action in the Court of Claims against the Governor and the Secretary of State, seeking a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief to reverse then-Governor Jennifer…
Date: June 2, 2014
Docket Number: 146680
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented to the Supreme Court was the constitutionality of Michigan’s one-parent doctrine. The one-parent doctrine essentially imposes joint and several liability on both parents, potentially…
Date: May 29, 2014
Docket Number: 146626
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Chad Garrison, stole four snowmobiles and two trailers from vacation homes in Cheboygan County. He pleaded guilty to one count of larceny of property valued at $1,000 or more, but less than $20,000, as a…
Date: May 20, 2014
Docket Number: 146256
Justia Opinion Summary: Lejuan Rambin sued Allstate Insurance Company and Titan Insurance Company, seeking payment of personal protection insurance (PIP) benefits under the no-fault act. Rambin had been injured while riding a motorcycle owned…
Date: May 20, 2014
Docket Number: 146452
Justia Opinion Summary: Acorn Investment Co. sued the Michigan Basic Property Insurance Association seeking to recover losses suffered in a fire on Acorn’s property. Michigan Basic had denied coverage on the basis that the policy had been…
Date: May 20, 2014
Docket Number: 146452
Date: May 5, 2014
Docket Numbers: 145631, 145632
Justia Opinion Summary: Anthony Henry and Keith White filed suit against Laborers’ Local 1191, Michael Aaron (the union’s business manager), and Bruce Ruedisueli (the union’s president), alleging that their indefinite layoff from employment at…
Date: April 25, 2014
Docket Number: 146157
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented to the Supreme Court centered on the application of Michigan’s Whistleblowers’ Protection Act (WPA) to a contract employee whose contract was not renewed ostensibly because of the employee’s…
Date: April 24, 2014
Docket Number: 146520
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue in this case involved two landowners’ facial challenge to the constitutionality of 18-59 of the Brighton Code of Ordinances (BCO), which created a rebuttable presumption that an unsafe structure could be…
Date: April 24, 2014
Citation: 848 N.W.2d 380, 495 Mich. 209
Docket Number: 146520
Date: April 22, 2014
Docket Number: 147515
Justia Opinion Summary: In February 2008, the Department of Human Services (DHS) removed COH, ERH, JRG, and KBH from their mother’s care. The children were initially placed in two separate foster homes; however, in October 2008, all of the…
Date: April 15, 2014
Docket Number: 145052
Justia Opinion Summary: Miller-Davis Company was an "at risk" contractor for the Sherman Lake YMCA's natatorium project. Miller-Davis hired defendant Ahrens Construction, Inc., as a subcontractor to install similar roof systems on three rooms,…
Date: April 4, 2014
Docket Number: 146523
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Schuyler Chenault was convicted by jury of felony murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The only question at trial was the identity of the shooter. The girlfriend of the victim…
Date: April 4, 2014
Docket Number: 146523
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the Michigan Supreme Court centered on the proper test for applying the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Brady v Maryland. In "Michigan v. Lester," (591 NW 2d 267 (1998)), the…
Date: April 3, 2014
Docket Number: 146212
Justia Opinion Summary: In "Michigan v. Fobb," the Court of Appeals held that an extortion conviction under the "against his will" prong of MCL 750.213 could only be maintained when the act defendant sought to compel entailed "serious…
Date: April 1, 2014
Docket Number: 145144
Justia Opinion Summary: Addison Township issued Jerry Barnhart a misdemeanor citation for operating a shooting range without a zoning compliance permit. The case proceeded to a bench trial. After the township presented its case, the court…
Date: April 1, 2014
Docket Number: 145144
Date: April 1, 2014
Docket Numbers: 146333, 146335
Justia Opinion Summary: Fradco, Inc., contested a final assessment issued by the Department of Treasury that disallowed a sales tax deduction following an audit. Through its resident agent, Fradco requested the department send all information…
Date: April 1, 2014
Docket Number: 146335
Date: March 26, 2014
Docket Number: 145677
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Ronald Earl was convicted by a jury of bank robbery and two counts of possession of less than 25 grams of a controlled substance. At the time defendant committed the offenses, MCL 780.905 required that all…
Date: March 26, 2014
Docket Number: 146826
Justia Opinion Summary: The Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC) petitioned for the interim suspension of Wayne Circuit Court Judge Wade H. McCree without pay. With respect to Count I, an appointed special master concluded that respondent should…
Date: February 6, 2014
Docket Number: 145816
Justia Opinion Summary: John Ter Beek filed an action against the City of Wyoming, seeking to have a city zoning ordinance declared void and an injunction entered prohibiting its enforcement. Ter Beek was a qualifying patient and held a…
Date: February 6, 2014
Docket Number: 146234
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue before the Supreme Court in this case was whether the execution of a lease of tangible personal property constitutes "use" for purposes of the Use Tax Act (UTA). Petitioner purchased an aircraft from one…
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