Warner Norcross & Judd - Appellate Practice Group

In People v Kloosterman, the Court of Appeals considered whether a man who made fraudulent returns at Home Depot and sold the goods on Craigslist was guilty of conducting a criminal enterprise (racketeering) under a Michigan…more

When the State Treasurer finds a municipality to be in “probable financial stress” the Michigan’s Emergency Financial Manager Act requires the Governor to appoint a financial review team for that municipality. Under the Act, the…more

On May 18, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, and held that the state’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA) required municipalities to be responsible for and prevent raw sewage…more

In People v. Rao, the Michigan Supreme Court reaffirmed the four-factor test, set forth in People v. Cress, 486 Mich. 678, 692 (2003), that governs a motion for a new trial based on newly-discovered evidence. In particular, a…more

In Michigan v. Brantley, No. 298488, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that all criminal defendants convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct under MCL 750.520b must receive lifetime electronic monitoring upon release…more

In Michigan v. Brantley, No. 298488, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that all criminal defendants convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct under MCL 750.520b must receive lifetime electronic monitoring upon release…more

In the 2006 decision in Cameron v Auto Club Ins Ass’n, a narrow majority of the Michigan Supreme Court found that the provisions of the No Fault Act that tolled the statute of limitations for minors/insanity did not prevent the…more

People v. Williams is a veritable case study on the classic divide over issues of statutory interpretation. The issue in Williams was whether the 2004 statutory amendment (2004 P.A. 128) to the statute for armed robbery (MCL §§…more

In People v. Dillion, the Michigan Court of Appeals considered whether a police officer had reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant and search his car. The officer stopped the defendant for violation of a statute that…more

In Mitchell v. Mitchell, an ex-wife’s refusal to provide her ex-husband with a background check on her current boyfriend ended with the Michigan Court of Appeals ruling that a modification to the divorced couple’s child custody…more

In Smitter v Thornapple Township, Case No. 144354, the Court granted leave to appeal the judgment of the Court of Appeals. The Court previously had considered an application for leave to appeal an earlier order from the Court…more

Several decisions by the Michigan Court of Appeals have recognized the doctrine of “imperfect self-defense” — the concept that a defendant is guilty only of manslaughter, and not of murder, if the defendant would have been…more

A person can be judicially estopped from pursuing a sexual harassment claim based on her failure to include the lawsuit as a potential asset in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceeding. In Spohn v. Van Dyke Public Schools, the…more

In People v. Glenn-Powers, the Michigan Court of Appeals considered whether the defendant was lawfully arrested for violation of probation when the probation violation warrant was not sworn under oath. A search subsequent to the…more

A congregant’s statements made in confidence to a cleric are privileged and as such are inadmissible evidence under Michigan law. Because of this “cleric-communicant” privilege, the Court of Appeals in People v Bragg affirmed…more