Michigan Lawyers Weekly articles from January 2007

Michigan Lawyers Weekly archives from January 2007

MI Court of Appeals rules child cannot have two legal fathers.(Michigan)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Molly F. Dilbeck, Esq. How many fathers can a child legally have? According to the Michigan Court of Appeals, only one. In 1999, Holly V. Mazurek and Martin A. Powers became the proud parents of a baby boy. Because the...

MI Court of Appeals rules township's land use policy may be deemed impermissibly "exclusionary".(Michigan)(Anspaugh, et al. v. Imlay Township, et al.)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. When will a township's land use policy be deemed impermissibly exclusionary? When it creates a classification for a type of land use, but fails to allocate any actual land for that use, despite a...

Former Wayne County prosecutor makes successful leap into criminal defense world.(Interview)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Sheryl M. Coonan Practice Profile Former Wayne County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Todd F. Flood thought his lifelong career would be serving his community by bringing criminals to justice and, from 1997-2002, Flood did...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: January 8, 2007.
January 8, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Butzel Long shareholders David F. DuMouchel and George B. Donnini have been appointed to the American Bar Association's White Collar Crime Committee for two-year terms. DuMouchel...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 8, 2007.(Frederick v. Federal-Mogul Corp.)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Automatic Stay - Misappropriation Claim Barred Where plaintiff claimed he invented a method for making ball bearings and disclosed this to his employer under a promise of...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: January 8, 2007.(Greenwald, et al. v. Hooe, et al.)(Clark v. Abdullah, et al.)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Negligence - 'Clear Distance' Statute Plaintiffs are not entitled to have the arbitration award vacated based on their contention that the majority of the arbitrators' decision for...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: January 8, 2007.(People v. Slack)(People v. Towle)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Assault With Intent To Do Great Bodily Harm Less Than Murder; Conspiracy To Commit Assault With Intent To Do Great Bodily Harm Less Than Murder; Habitual Offender, Second...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: January 8, 2007.(Fieger v. Ferry)(DiLaura, et al. v. Twp. of Ann Arbor, et al.)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Judge Recusal - Constitutional Challenge Survives Plaintiff Geoffrey N. Fieger's constitutional challenge to MCR 2.003, which governs the disqualification of judges in civil...

Commentary: Strategic considerations in deciding whether to pursue a case on appeal.(Column)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Larry J. Saylor Deciding whether to pursue an appeal ultimately requires from a business perspective an analysis of more than just the size of the money judgment won or lost, or the importance of the injunction granted or denied....

Verdicts & Settlements January 8, 2007: $835K awarded for no-fault matter.(Augustine v. Allstate Insurance Company)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff sustained a traumatic brain injury in a Feb. 11, 2000, automobile accident. Defendant Allstate Insurance paid benefits -- including attendant care benefits -- for several years for the...

Verdicts & Settlements January 8, 2007: Medical-malpractice suit nets $2.4M verdict.(Kurlander v. William Beaumont Hospital)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff, an executive vice president of the Kmart Corporation, had carotid endarterectomy performed at William Beaumont Hospital by Dr. John Kitzmiller. Three hours after surgery, a nurse in...

Verdicts & Settlements January 8, 2007: $14.1M verdict reached in wrongful death case.(Lotz v. Signature Farms, et al.)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff This case was a matter of the wrongful death of a mother, father and two young children due to leaking propane gas that caused an explosion in their rental home on a hog farm. Plaintiff's counsel...

Verdicts & Settlements January 8, 2007: $1.9M arbitration award for product liability.(Uhl v. Komatsu Ltd., et al.)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff's husband was unloading a raised hopper of scrap steel weighing several thousand pounds when two of the four bolts sheared, and the mast and load fell straight backward on top of the...

MI Supreme Court's position on issue of reforming its recusal procedures: Not broke, why fix it?
January 15, 2007... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Michigan Supreme Court "Thanks anyway, but things are working just fine the way they are." Essentially, that was the Michigan Supreme Court's position when it recently addressed the issue of reforming...

MI Court of Appeals: Searching for an exception.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Michigan Court of Appeals The 12 bags of marijuana, two scales and pipe stashed in Michelle LaBelle's "SpongeBob SquarePants" backpack might not have been found had her companion not driven through a...

MI Court of Appeals leaves both parties with victory and a defeat.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Molly F. Dilbeck, Esq. Michigan Court of Appeals A recent Michigan Court of Appeals decision has left both the plaintiff and defendant with a victory and a defeat. After Daniel P. McManamon was suspended from his managerial...

MI Lawyers in the News: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Elections Allison C. Reuter has been elected secretary of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Grand Rapids Bar Association. Reuter is with Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett LLP, in...

MI Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Business Law Joint Venture - Sale Of Property The sale of property obtained by the original contracting parties in 1969 can only be accomplished by unanimous consent because the parties had a...

MI Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Limitations - Decision Upheld The trial court properly affirmed the arbitrator's determination that plaintiff had breached its contracts with defendants and that while...

MI Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Assault With Intent To Murder. Jury Instruction. "It is clear from the trial court's instructions that the trial court did not instruct the jury that it could find defendant...

MI Supreme Court Orders Case Summaries: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorney Discipline Matters Kim v. Attorney Grievance Comm'n. SC: 132234; AGC: 1988/06. On order of the Court, the complaint for superintending control is considered, and relief is DENIED, because...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Chapter 13 Surrender Of Vehicle - 'Hanging Paragraph' The so-called "hanging paragraph" found at the end of 11 U.S.C. Sect. 1325(a)(9)1 does not permit a Chapter 13 debtor to surrender a...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Former Representation - Written Notice In this Order on Rehearing, and based on the Michigan Supreme Court's amendment to MRPC 1.10(a), effective immediately, we grant National...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Conflict Of Interest Claim - Award Confirmed Defendants' claims that an arbitrator's past associations with the intervening plaintiff's attorney created a conflict of interest in...

Verdicts & Settlements January 15, 2007: Premises liability matter nets $5.2M settlement.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff This case involved a flash fire from flammable gas, causing second- and third-degree burn injuries. The main liability issue was fault for escape of gas (one or more defendants, the plaintiff,...

Verdicts & Settlements January 15, 2007: $1.15M settlement reached for breach of contract.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The defendants threatened to shut down the company and compete against the company post-dissolution rather than provide equal distributions to the plaintiff, who was a minority member. The key to...

Verdicts & Settlements January 15, 2007: First-party no-fault matter settles for $1.1M.
January 15, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff is a 33-year-old female Texas resident who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a pedestrian/motor vehicle accident occurring in 1976 in Michigan when she was 5. She had received attendant...

Commentary: Gagne* with a spoon.(Gagne v. Schulte (Lawyers Weekly No. 08-58431))(Krysta Gagne's case of negligence)(Viewpoint essay)
January 15, 2007... Byline: Mike Butler I didn't "always want to be a lawyer." I assume most doctors probably wanted to cure the sick from the time they were kids. Teachers surely had the desire to develop young minds from the time they were...

Court issues ruling in Ski Area Safety Act lawsuit.(Rusnak v. Walker)
January 22, 2007... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Michigan Court of Appeals "Watch out!" These words -- shouted to skier Toni Rusnak just before Matt Walker collided with her on the slopes of Boyne Mountain ski resort -- may also serve as a...

Michigan Court of Appeals: Remedying a lopsided transaction.(Morris Pumps v. Centerline Piping, Inc.)(Case overview)
January 22, 2007... Byline: Molly F. Dilbeck, Esq. Michigan Court of Appeals You can't get something for nothing, according to the Michigan Court of Appeals. In a unanimous opinion, the appellate court ruled that express contracts between a...

Michigan Court of Appeals remands attempt to intervene in divorce proceedings.
January 22, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Michigan Court of Appeals In the summer of 2002, Jeff E. Titus was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the first-degree murder of Douglas D. Estes. One month later, Jan Kay Estes --...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: January 22, 2007.
January 22, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments William J. Kohler has been appointed to the board of directors of ORT America, Michigan Region for a one-year term. Kohler, a senior attorney with Butzel Long, maintains leadership...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 22, 2007.(Credit Acceptance Corp. v. 46th District Court)
January 22, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Writ Of Garnishment - Imposition Of Extra Requirements Invalid "MCR 3.101(D) does not allow a trial court to require that a judgment creditor provide information or...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: January 22, 2007.(Cargas v. Bednarsh, et al.)(Jaques v. Baskin)
January 22, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Appellate Attorney Fees - Estoppel Where plaintiff sued defendants for breach of a commercial lease, she cannot seek appellate attorney fees because she had prepared the circuit...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: January 22, 2007.
January 22, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Assault With Intent To Do Great Bodily Harm Less Than Murder; Discharge Of A Firearm At An Occupied Structure; Felon In Possession Of A Firearm; Carrying A Concealed Weapon;...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders Case Summaries: January 22, 2007.
January 22, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Additional Briefing Ordered Czymbor's Timber, Inc. v. City of Saginaw. SC: 130672; COA: 263505; Saginaw CC: 03-050339-CH. On order of the Court, leave to appeal having been granted, and the briefs...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: January 22, 2007.(Brief article)
January 22, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Eastern District Administrative Order - Local Rule Amendment In re: Administrative Order Regarding Amendment to LBR 2016-2 No. 07-01 To facilitate the Court's review of fee...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: January 22, 2007.(Griffith v. Coburn)(United States v. Jackson)
January 22, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Conversion From Chapter 7 - Good Faith In determining whether a debtor's motion to convert a Chapter 7 case to a Chapter 13 case is motivated by bad faith, the same "bad faith...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: January 22, 2007.
January 22, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Management Order - Moot Where the Chapter 13 debtor appeals an interlocutory order of the Bankruptcy Court denying his motion to modify a case management order, the appeal is...

U.S. District Court Western District Case Summaries: January 22, 2007.(Travelers Property Casualty of America v. The Eyde Co.)
January 22, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Insurance Building Collapse - No 'Decay' Where a building defendant insured collapsed, no coverage is due because the reason for the collapse -- nails that gradually pulled free from a truss...

Commentary: Client satisfaction surveys: How to conduct them.
January 22, 2007... Byline: Jeffrey A. Miiller To maximize the value of your client satisfaction survey, you should be strategic in its implementation. Everything you do should be designed to enhance your ability to gather qualitative feedback. Candid,...

Commentary: Proof of actual bias is prerequisite to judge's disqualification.
January 22, 2007... Byline: Allan Falk Historically, judicial disqualification was simply unknown to the common law. (See, Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Lavoie, 475 U.S. 813, 820 (1986), citing Clyma v. Kennedy, 64 Conn. 310; 29 A 539 (1894) and 3 W. Blackstone,...

Attorneys are reaping the benefits of focus groups by test driving their arguments in front of them.
January 29, 2007... Byline: Molly F. Dilbeck, Esq. Managing your practice Practice makes perfect. That's the motto for a growing number of attorneys who have ventured into the realm of focus groups and mock juries. In the marketing arena, focus...

Verdicts & Settlements January 29, 2007: Attendant care case hinges on training.(Bonkowski v. Allstate Insurance Company)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Molly F. Dilbeck, Esq. The battle continues over what should be the hourly rate for attendant care. For example, the issue was front and center in a recent Oakland County Circuit Court case where a jury awarded plaintiff Shaun...

Michigan Court of Appeals rules in case where defendant signs waiver of Miranda rights.(People v. McBride)(Case overview)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. When Mary Ann McBride -- a deaf and mute homicide suspect -- told Roseville Police Department Detectives Jon Sarrah and Michael Demick that she had never heard of "Miranda rights," the investigators assumed...

Million-dollar class action verdicts and settlements: Environmental contamination.(Koszewski-Jones v. General Motors Corp.)(Brief article)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The case, involving about 300 property owners who lived near a former General Motors plant, was resolved through facilitative mediation. General Motors was operating the plant when an underground...

2006 million-dollar default judgments.(The Farrah Group, LLC v. Duroplas Corporation)(Terri's Lounge Inc. v. Al Bordeau Insurance Service, Inc.)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff and the defendant entered into a business relationship to manufacture and sell, through patented processes, thermoplastic elastomers, asphalt modifiers and other items related to the...

2006 Largest Settlements: $20M breach of contract claim tops list.(VSI Holdings, Inc., et al. v. SPX Corp.)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff A $20 million breach of contract claim won by an automotive supplier topped this year's list of million-dollar settlements reported to Michigan Lawyers Weekly in 2006. Another automotive...

2006 million-dollar verdicts.(Lowe, et al. v. Henry Ford Health System d/b/a Henry Ford Hospital)(Lotz v. Signature Farms, et al.)(McKay Consulting, Inc. v. St. John Health, et al.)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff #1 $16M verdict awarded in birth trauma matter Mother removed from fetal heart monitor This was a medical and nursing negligence claim arising out of the improper care and treatment rendered...

Top reported verdict of 2006 in Michigan falls millions short of previous years' award.(Lowe, et al. v. Henry Ford Health System d/b/a/ Henry Ford Hospital)(Lotz v. Signature Farms, et al.)(McKay Consulting, Inc. v. St. John Health, et al.)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. 2006 may go down in history as the year Michigan's highest court took center stage for its controversy inside and outside of the courtroom. But it also may mark a pivotal change in the trial courts. ...

Top Ten verdicts plummet for second year in a row.(Navarro v. Carrollwood Emergency Physicians)(Mendoza v. Summit Care Corp.)(de Villers v. Rossum)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Bill Ibelle Maybe it's just a 24-month coincidence, but for the second year in a row, the nation's largest verdicts to individual plaintiffs have fallen dramatically. This past year's total is one third of the total for the...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: January 29, 2007.
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Christopher E. Tracy has been appointed to the Kalamazoo Nature Center Board. Tracy, of Howard & Howard Attorneys, P.C., in Kalamazoo, concentrates his practice on commercial...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 29, 2007.(Borowsky v. Borowsky)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Family Law Child Support Calculations - Remand Where the trial court incorrectly calculated the parties' income for purposes of determining child support payments, a remand is necessary for...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: January 29, 2007.(L and L Wine and Liquor Corp. v. Michigan Liquor Control Comm'n, et al.)(Beavers v. Barton Malow Co., et al.)(Shaw v. Hartland Coffee Beanery, L.L.C.)(Roberts v. Detroit Public Schools)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Law Liquor Control Commission - Administrative Remedies The circuit court correctly concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to issue a declaratory judgment on the legality of a...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: January 29, 2007.(People v. Garant)(People v. Trailer)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Evidence Aiding And Abetting - Mere Presence We reverse the trial court's order, granting defendant's motion to quash the information and dismissing a charge of unarmed robbery because the...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: January 29, 2007.(Farmers Ins. Exchange v. Farm Bureau General Ins. Co.)(Reaume v. Jefferson Middle School, et al.)(Webber v. Hilborn, et al.)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Oral Argument Ordered Farmers Ins. Exchange v. Farm Bureau General Ins. Co. SC: 132179; COA: 259763; Tuscola CC: 03-021922-CK. On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the August...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: January 29, 2007.
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Automatic Stay - No Damages Even though the Bankruptcy Court in this Chapter 13 case found a willful violation of the automatic stay, it was not bound to award damages to the debtor...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: January 29, 2007.(Mason v. Adams, et al.)(Washington v. Comcast Corp.)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Excessive Force Claim - Handcuffs Defendant-police officers are entitled to qualified immunity from plaintiff's allegations that he was handcuffed too tightly in violation of the...

U.S. District Court Western District Case Summaries: January 29, 2007.(Miller, et al. v. Americor Lending Group, Inc.)(Weissert v. Cook, et al.)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Home Loan - Statute Of Frauds The statute of frauds does not bar plaintiffs' contract, fraud and Michigan Mortgage Brokers, Lenders and Servicers Act claims against defendant-lending...

Commentary: Do opinions and decisions of Mich. Supreme Court 'majority' show a political agenda?(Column)
January 29, 2007... Byline: Robert F. Garvey The editors of Business Week magazine chose the following headline for its Jan. 8, 2007 cover: "How Business Trounced the Trial Lawyers." This apparent declaration of victory, while no doubt celebrated by the...