M.J. KELLY , P.J. In this real property dispute, plaintiff, New Products Corporation, appeals by leave granted the trial court's order granting the motion by defendants Harbor Shores BHBT Land Development, LLC (Harbor Shores Development) and Horizon Bank asking the trial court to limit the issues to be tried by a jury. On appeal, the sole question is whether the trial court erred when it determined that Michigan's Constitution does not guarantee the right to a jury trial on each of New...
PER CURIAM . The present consolidated cases involve a class action concerning allegations of negligence, breach of contract, and invasion of privacy. Defendants Perry Johnson and Associates, Inc. (Perry Johnson), and Henry Ford Health Systems (Henry Ford) appeal by leave granted the order denying their respective motions for summary disposition and the majority of their challenges to class certification. Plaintiffs 1 have filed a cross-appeal in which they contest the trial court's...
M.J. KELLY , J. In this suit for malpractice, plaintiffs, Lale Roberts and Joan Roberts, appeal by right the trial court's order dismissing their claims against defendant, Kathryn Salmi, LPC, who does business as Salmi Christian Counseling. On appeal, we must determine whether a mental health professional, such as a licensed professional counselor, see MCL 330.1100b(16)(e); 333.18101(b), 1 owes a duty of care to third persons who might be harmed by the professional's treatment of his or...
PER CURIAM . In these consolidated appeals, various individuals, companies, and associations involved in property ownership, rehabilitation, and development in Kent County (the 3830 G parties) 1 seek to invalidate tax deeds executed by the Kent County Treasurer (the Treasurer) to Kent County (the County) and the city of Grand Rapids (the City) and from the County and the City to the Kent County Land Bank Authority (the KCLBA), claiming that their actions deprived the 3830 G parties of the...
PER CURIAM . Plaintiff appeals the May 24, 2013 order granting defendant's motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(10) in this civil dispute involving plaintiff's fall and subsequent injury while walking arm-in-arm with defendant on defendant's property. We affirm. Since April of 2009, plaintiff has resided with her fianc , Randy Bates, in a mobile home adjacent to defendant's home, and defendant has been plaintiff's landlord. Defendant and plaintiff are good friends who socialize...
JANSEN , J. Petitioner Karen Spranger appeals by right the judgment of the Tax Tribunal denying her request for a poverty exemption from her 2012 property taxes on her residential property in the city of Warren. We reverse in part, vacate in part, and remand to the Tax Tribunal for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. Petitioner submitted a City of Warren Poverty Exemption Application to respondent's March board of review. On her application, petitioner indicated that her...
TALBOT , J. Auto-Owners Insurance Company (Auto-Owners) appeals as of right an order entering judgment in favor of Wyoming Chiropractic Health Clinic, PC (Wyoming Chiropractic). We affirm. Auto-Owners argues that the trial court erred by denying its motion for summary disposition because Wyoming Chiropractic, a healthcare provider, did not have standing to bring an action against Auto-Owners, an insurer, for the purpose of obtaining personal injury protection (PIP) benefits under the...
PER CURIAM . Plaintiffs appeal as of right following the trial court's grant of defendant's motion for summary disposition. We affirm. Plaintiffs claim entitlement to two strips of land within the platted rights-of-way of Lake Street and Commercial Avenue in the village of Beulah under a theory of acquiescence. Plaintiffs are the owners of Lots 10, 11, and a portion of Lot 7 in Block 2, which are bordered on the northwest by Lake Street and the southwest by Commercial Avenue. Before 1968,...
PER CURIAM . Intervening plaintiffs, Dr. Labeed Nouri and Dr. Nazih Iskander, appeal as of right the trial court order granting summary disposition in favor of defendant, IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company, in this action to recover first-party personal protection insurance (PIP) benefits under the no-fault act, MCL 500.3101. We affirm. I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND Plaintiff was involved in two car accidents, one on March 4, 2011, and the other one on October 20, 2011. 1 The second accident...
PER CURIAM . Plaintiff, Alwyn Mouzon, appeals the trial court's order granting summary disposition to defendant Achievable Visions (hereafter "defendant"). We affirm. This case stems from a bar fight and subsequent shooting of Alwyn Mouzon by Antoine Kope at the Blackwell Center in the city of Highland Park. Defendant began renting the Blackwell Center from the city of Highland Park in fall 2009, with the intentions of creating an after-hours dance club on weekends. As part of the agreement...
SAAD , P.J. I. NATURE OF THE CASE This tax appeal involves the applicability of the industrial-processing exemption 1 to the General Sales Tax Act (the Act). 2 In sum, the industrial-processing exemption to the sales tax, MCL 205.54t, can only be granted to taxpayers engaged in "industrial processing." A taxpayer is only engaged in industrial processing when it (1) modifies "tangible personal property" 3 for sale 4 to consumers or (2) uses tangible personal property to produce wholly...
PER CURIAM . Plaintiff appeals as of right an order of the trial court granting defendant's motion for summary disposition. We affirm. Plaintiff is the condominium association for Harbor Watch, a condominium project located in Petoskey, Michigan. Defendant is a "foreclosing governmental unit" as defined in MCL 211.78(8)(a)( i ), authorized to foreclose upon properties for delinquent property taxes under Michigan's General Property Tax Act (GPTA), MCL 211.1, et seq. On February 17, 2011,...
SAAD , J. Defendant city of Ann Arbor appeals the trial court's denial of its motion for summary disposition of plaintiffs claim under MCL 691.1416 to MCL 691.1419 (the "Sewage Act") of the governmental tort liability act (GTLA), MCL 691.1401 et seq. 1 For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we reverse and dismiss plaintiff's claim. I. ANALYSIS Plaintiff's home is located in the Landsdowne Subdivision in Ann Arbor. The neighborhood has historically been prone to flooding, and Ann...
PER CURIAM . Detroit Public Schools (DPS) (Docket No. 317007) and the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Wage and Hour Division (the wage & hour division or agency) (Docket No. 317050) appeal separately by leave granted the Wayne Circuit Court order of June 12, 2013, affirming the July 13, 2012 decision of the hearings officer, Tyra Wright. The hearings officers ruled that a deduction from or reduction of appellee-teachers' pay, which was authorized by a collective bargaining...
GLEICHER , J. Before admitting expert medical testimony, a trial court must ensure that it is not infected with junk science. Michigan Rule of Evidence 702 and MCL 600.2955 provide trial courts with the general standards they need to fulfill this gatekeeping obligation. At issue in this medical malpractice case is how those standards apply to a difference of opinion among highly qualified experts concerning whether a surgical error constitutes a violation of the standard of care. The...
MURRAY , J. Defendant, Sherry Lynn Simmons-Butler, appeals as of right a divorce judgment entered by the St. Clair Circuit Court. On appeal, defendant generally argues that the trial court erred in (1) its custody and parenting-time determinations with respect to the parties' two minor children, (2) its division of the marital property and debt, and (3) its determinations regarding child support and spousal support. Intermixed in these general issues are several discreet ones, including...
PER CURIAM . Defendants Todd Sanford and Amy Sanford appeal as of right an order granting summary disposition in favor of plaintiff, Anthony Penrose, in this property easement dispute. Because plaintiff possessed an exclusive easement over the property in question, the Sanfords' later acquisition of an easement over that same property was ineffective, and we affirm. I. BASIC FACTS This case arises out of a dispute over real property located in the Monroe Park Subdivision, in the city of...
Wilder , J. In this action to quiet title to a condominium unit, plaintiff, Trademark Properties of Michigan, LLC, appeals as of right an order granting summary disposition in favor of defendants, Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS), and Bank of America (BOA). We reverse. I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On August 16, 2003, Earl F. Strickfaden obtained a mortgage loan from GMAC Mortgage Corporation. MERS was the...
SHAPIRO , P.J. Defendant, K. Thomas Crocker, D.O., 1 performed orthopedic surgery on plaintiff's ankle on September 28, 2008, and for some time thereafter provided plaintiff postsurgical care. Plaintiff later filed the instant medical malpractice action, alleging that he suffered injury resulting from violations of the standard of care by defendant during surgery and during postsurgical care. Shortly before the scheduled trial date, the trial court ruled on several motions in limine. We...
MURRAY , J. At issue in this case is the applicability and potential waiver of the work-product privilege in the context of an indemnification relationship. It comes to us on defendants' interlocutory appeal of the Genesee Circuit Court's order compelling defendants' production of their investigation report related to a sewer system construction project gone awry. Defendants, Genesee County Drain Commissioner Jeffrey Wright and the Division of Water and Waste Services, maintain that the...
