Michigan Lawyers Weekly articles from November 2006

Michigan Lawyers Weekly archives from November 2006

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: November 6, 2006.(Aladdin Fireplace Design Center, L.L.C. v. Eickenroth, et al. )
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Default Judgment - No Good Cause Because defendants failed to establish the "good cause" requirement to set aside a default under MCR 2.603(D)(1), "the court need not consider...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: November 6, 2006.(People v. Howell)(People v. Shaw)(People v. Scroggins)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery. No Prosecutorial Misconduct. "In the course of his closing argument, defense counsel commented on the prosecutor's failure to produce a listed witness at trial,...

Michigan Supreme Court Case Summaries: November 6, 2006.(People v. Price)(Case overview)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law PRV 1 - Canadian Convictions Defendant is entitled to resentencing because the trial court erred by considering two prior Canadian felony convictions as "prior high severity...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: November 6, 2006.(Bates v. Gilbert, et al.)(Banasak v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., et al.)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Oral Argument Ordered Bates v. Gilbert, et al. SC: 129564-67; COA: 252022, 252047, 252792, and 252793; Wayne CC: 03-308969-NH. On order of the Court, the applications for leave to appeal the August...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: November 6, 2006.(Nicholson v. City of Warren)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Filing Extension - Denied The district court did not abuse its discretion by concluding that plaintiff had demonstrated neither good cause nor excusable neglect in order to be entitled...

Commentary: 'Significant nexus' likely to determine federally regulated wetlands.(Column)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Saulius K. Mikalonis The U.S Supreme Court recently decided two cases involving the extent of federal jurisdiction over wetlands. While many in the regulated community hoped for a bright-line test to identify which wetlands are...

Commentary: Will the U.S. Supreme Court resolve a policy war between the states?(Massachusetts, et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, et al.)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Steven C. Kohl In October 2006, the office of Michigan's Attorney General filed its merits brief as a respondent party in a case to be heard this term by the U.S. Supreme Court. Michigan is one of 26 states, various industry and...

Verdicts & Settlements November 6, 2006: $2.6M verdict in product liability suit.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was riding a fairly new Polaris jet ski on Bear Lake in Kalkaska County. Due to a defect in the hood mechanism, it came off at about 30mph, shattering his face. The plaintiff was...

Verdicts & Settlements November 6, 2006: Auto negligence case nets $100K verdict.(Brittentine v. Wilkins)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was driving through a residential intersection where she had the right of way. A speeding police office, responding to an officer-in-distress/felony with a gun call, ran a stop sign,...

Verdicts & Settlements November 6, 2006: 'No cause' verdict for workplace accident.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The defendant is a small company that fabricates and installs granite and marble countertops and floors. The plaintiff, a part-time worker who was paid in cash for various duties performed for the...

Right of first refusal sounded in contract, not property rights, rules MI Court of Appeals.(Michigan)(Randolph v. Reisig)(Case overview)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, J.D. The Randolphs didn't want their neighbors, the Reisigs, to sell their property on Houseman Lake to people who didn't already own land surrounding the lake. As such, when the Reisigs announced their...

6th Circuit rules morbid obesity not always an ADA impairment.(Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990)(Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Watkins Motor Lines, Inc.)(Case overview)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Molly F. Dilbeck, J.D. Morbid obesity is not an impairment for purposes of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), at least not all the time. Or so said the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals when it declined the Equal...

Overruling precedent and the Michigan Supreme Court.(Case overview)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Michigan Supreme Court analysis They're both right. Relative to the overall number of dispositions by the Michigan Supreme Court each year, the number of Supreme Court cases overruling Supreme Court...

Lawyers Election Guide: Candidate for Attorney General.(Amos Williams)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Candidate for Attorney General My name is Amos Williams. I am the best candidate for attorney general because I will restore honesty and integrity to the Office of Attorney General in the State of...

MI Lawyers in the News: November 6, 2006.(Michigan)(Janet K. Welch and Scott S. Brinkmeyer)(Donald H. Scharg and Jeffrey S. Ammon )
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Janet K. Welch has been appointed interim executive director of the State Bar of Michigan. Welch is general counsel for the State Bar. Scott S. Brinkmeyer has joined the...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 6, 2006.(People v. Rideout)(Peterson v. Peterson)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law OUIL Causing Death - Causation Where defendant, while intoxicated, caused a nonfatal nighttime traffic accident and a passenger in the other car reached the side of the road and...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 13, 2006.(People v. Carnicom)(People v. Rouse)(Boodt v. Borgess Medical Center)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Methamphetamine Possession - Independent Blood Test Absent an indication that the expert testimony would have likely benefited the defense, the trial court did not abuse its...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: November 13, 2006.(Turner v. City of Grand Rapids)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Assault Arrest - No Municipal Liability Plaintiff may not sue the City of Grand Rapids under 42 USC 1983 based on his alleged arrest without probable cause for domestic assault...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: November 13, 2006.(People v. Stewart)(People v. Grayson)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Aggravated Stalking; Habitual Offender, Fourth Offense. Insufficient Evidence. "Defendant maintains that the victim could not have felt terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: November 13, 2006.(United States v. Hynes)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Fraudulent Transfer - Solvency Where the bankruptcy estate trustee seeks to set aside the debtor's transfer of property to Cumberland Casualty & Surety Co. as a fraudulent transfer...

Commentary: Ad nauseam.(midterm elections)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Mike Butler Now that this election cycle has ended, I can say that we all have come out winners. Because our party's candidates were elected? I don't know and don't care. Because the voice of the people has again been...

Ending affirmative action: Michigan Civil Rights Initiative tells its side of the story.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff In "Ending affirmative action," Oct. 30, 2006, we reported that the campaign manager and another member of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI) -- the group responsible for putting Proposal 2 on...

Readers React - Proposal 2.(Letter to the editor)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff To The Editor: I read your [affirmative action] article. I disagree with the position you take. (See, "Ending affirmative action," Oct. 30, 2006.) The better question to be asked is: 1....

Readers React - Proposal 2.(Letter to the editor)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff To The Editor: Todd should either return to an accredited law school; study Aristotlean logic; or register as a lobbyist. Lawyer's Weekly Michigan has either lost its publisher's neutrality or...

Drunk driver not liable for death that wasn't 'reasonably foreseeable', rules MI Court of Appeals.(People v. Schaeffer)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, J.D. When is a drunk driver responsible for a victim's death? When his driving is both the cause-in-fact and the proximate cause of the death, a recent Michigan Court of Appeals decision held. Late one...

MI Court of Appeals rules jury instruction was unduly coercive, departed from ABA standard.(Michigan)(American Bar Association)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Molly F. Dilbeck, J.D. Faced with a deadlocked jury in a criminal sexual conduct case, Dickinson County Circuit Court Judge Mary B. Barglind offered the log-jammed panel some supplemental jury instructions to keep the deliberations...

Loss of consortium is 'bodily injury' under motor vehicle exception, rules MI Court of Appeals.(Michigan)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, J.D. Loss of consortium is a bodily injury for purposes of the motor vehicle exception to governmental immunity. That was the conclusion reached by the Michigan Court of Appeals conflict panel when it held...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: November 13, 2006.(Neal Fortin)(Cameron S. DeLong)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Lawrence V. Stawiarski, an associate principal with Foley, Baron & Metzger, PLLC, has been appointed chairperson of the Livingston-Washtenaw Legislative League. Stawiarski focuses...

Majority's rhetoric is 'institutional'.(Letter to the editor)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff To The Editor: Timothy A. Baughman's effort to compare the rhetorical excesses of the current Supreme Court majority regarding their treatment of dissenters with that of the late Justice Eugene...

Constitution can't be usurped by a doctrine.(Letter to the editor)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff To The Editor: After following with interest the ongoing letters back and forth regarding conflicting legal philosophies in this state, I must write in strong support of Mr. Timothy Baughman's...

Compare overruled precedents vs. number of published opinions.(Letter to the editor)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff To The Editor: I don't suppose I will be the first or the last to ask you, what relevance does dispositions have to the issue. (See, "Overruling precedent and the MSC," Nov. 6, 2006.) ...

Med-mal smorgasbord.(Boodt v. Borgess Medical Center)(Case overview)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Michigan Court of Appeals The Michigan Court of Appeals recent decision in Boodt v. Borgess Medical Center, et al., has a little something for everyone. There's MCL 600.2912b, Roberts v. Mecosta County...

NLRB ruling clarifies parameters of employees' 'supervisory' status.(National Labor Relations Board)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Molly F. Dilbeck, J.D. NLRB Update What do you call nurses who exercise "independent judgment" in assigning other nurses to patients? According to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), you call them "supervisors." ...

Accept at your own risk.(quitclaim)(Case overview)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, J.D. Michigan Court of Appeals When Christopher Richards accepted a quitclaim deed from James Keyton's business, KDC, in 2002, he never imagined a years-long legal battle would leave him with no rights to...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: November 20, 2006.(Gregory L. Ulrich)(John J. Bursch)(Christopher M. Trebilcock )
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Gregory L. Ulrich, a partner with Cummings, McClorey, Davis and Acho, has been reappointed to the American Bar Association House of Delegates for a two-year term. Ulrich centers...

Former Michigan attorney Stratton S. Brown dies at 83.(Obituary)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Stratton S. Brown of Bloomfield Hills died Nov. 7, 2006, after a long illness. He was 83. Born Sept. 13, 1923, in Ann Arbor, he was the son of William E. Brown, a former mayor of Ann Arbor, and...

MI Attorney Discipline Board Case Summaries: November 20, 2006.(Michigan)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Final Notice Of Revocation And Restitution Case No. 04-122-GA Notice Issued: October 30, 2006 William D. Hunter, P 30911, Detroit, Michigan, by the Attorney Discipline Board modifying...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 20, 2006.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Sexual Penetration - Underlying Felony We conclude that the circuit court erred by quashing the district court's order binding defendant over for trial on four counts of...

Michigan Court of Appeals (Unpublished Civil) Case Summaries: November 20, 2006.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Family Law Separate Maintenance Agreement - Divorce Judgment The trial court did not err by incorporating into the divorce judgment the arbitrator's binding decision regarding the division of...

Michigan Court of Appeals (Unpublished Criminal) Case Summaries: November 20, 2006.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Aggravated Stalking. Sufficient Evidence. "The complaining witness testified that she met defendant at the home of some friends, but never became romantically involved with...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: November 20, 2006.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Chapter 7 Non-Filing Spouse - Monthly Income Calculation In determining whether a presumption of abuse applies to a Chapter 7 debtor's bankruptcy petition, a non-filing spouse must state his...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: November 20, 2006.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Debt - Dischargeable We affirm the district court's ruling that appellee-defendant's debt to plaintiff-appellant does not come within the categories of "nondischargeable" debts...

'Word Up' - Michigan Lawyers Weekly turns 20.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Lynn Patrick Ingram, Esq. When the first issue of Michigan Lawyers Weekly rolled off the printing press back in '86, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" had just debuted, "Top Gun" was the year's top-grossing movie, and nobody could beat me...

Recourse for private employees is not bleak.(Letter to the editor)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff To The Editor: Thank you for printing my email regarding the MCRI. (See, "Ending affirmative action: MCRI tells its side of the story," Nov. 13, 2006.) Private employees' recourse against...

No place for purpose.(Township of Grosse Ile v. Grosse Ile Bridge Company)(Village of Oxford v. Nathan Grove Family, LLC)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Molly F. Dilbeck, J.D. Michigan Supreme Court According to the Michigan Supreme Court, there is no room for 'why' in condemnation law. With two recent orders, the high court has determined that the purpose for taking...

Everybody wins?(Stokes v. DaimlerChrysler Corp.)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, J.D. Michigan Court of Appeals Employers and employees alike welcomed a recent Michigan Court of Appeals decision declaring that, because severe neck and arm pain prevented him from achieving his "maximum...

No more dancing around 'Waltz'.(Mazumder v. University of Michigan Regents)(Ward v. Siano)(Case overview)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Wrongful death medical-malpractice update Mazumder v. University of Michigan Regents, et al., opened the door on equitable tolling. Then, Ward v. Siano, et al. (Ward I) questioned the wisdom of Mazumder....

Michigan Lawyers in the News: November 27, 2006.
November 27, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Elections John V. Byl, a partner with Warner Norcross & Judd LLP, in Grand Rapids, has been named chair of the Environmental Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. Additionally, partners...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: November 27, 2006.(Dykema Gossett, P.L.L.C. v. Ajluni)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Fees - Quantum Meruit "[W]here a client actively prevents the occurrence of an event that triggers an attorney's recovery under a contingent fee agreement, the attorney has a right...

MI Court of Appeals Unpublished CivilCase Summaries: November 27, 2006.(Michigan)(Rife, Pioneer State Mutual Ins. Co. v.)(Harris v. Oliver)(Shields v. Blessing)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Remittitur - Law Of The Case Where this court previously remanded this case for a new trial after concluding that the verdict in this insurance declaratory action was "contrary to the...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: November 27, 2006.(People v. Elayyan)(People v. McCray)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery; Carjacking; Fleeing And Eluding, Third Degree; Felony Firearm. No Prosecutorial Misconduct. "During direct examination, a prosecution witness, defendant's former...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: November 27, 2006.(United States v. Magouirk)(United States v. Gale)(United States v. Ganier)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Sentencing - 'Booker' Waiver We affirm defendant's 151-month sentence for the manufacture and use of methamphetamine because defendant voluntarily waived his Booker rights. ...

Commentary: Client satisfaction surveys.(Survey)(Column)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Jeffrey A. Miiller The goal of your satisfaction survey is to strengthen client loyalty and stimulate new business from existing clients. To be most effective, you need to select clients who provide the greatest potential increase...

Verdicts & Settlements November 27, 2006: Inverse condemnation suit settles for $250K.(Brief article)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff This case arose out of the City of Detroit's protracted efforts to condemn more than 500 parcels of property for the expansion of the City Airport. The plaintiff's property was a medical clinic...

Verdicts & Settlements November 27, 2006: Assignee gets $1.5M award in Dramshop action.(Terri's Lounge Inc. v. Al Bordeau Insurance Service, Inc.)(Brief article)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff-assignee received a $3 million default judgment against Terri's Lounge, which attempted unsuccessfully to set aside the default judgment. It was revealed that the owner of Terri's...

Verdicts & Settlements November 27, 2006: Subcontractor nets $3M verdict for breach.(Interior/Exterior Specialists v. Devon Industrial Group, LLP)(Brief article)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The case stemmed from demolition work for the renovation of Detroit Southeastern High School that the plaintiff, minority subcontractor Interior/Exterior Specialists (IES), was subcontracted to do by...

Verdicts & Settlements November 27, 2006: 'No cause' verdict rendered in med-mal case.
November 27, 2006... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff On Oct. 31, 2002, the defendant, who was the decedent's primary care physician, diagnosed the decedent with herpes zoster, also known as shingles, and referred the decedent, a 68-year-old retired...