State, Federal, and Appellate Courts

• Court of Appeals Publishes Opinion Impacting Use of Experts

  January 4, 2018

  The Michigan Court of Appeals recently published a new opinion clarifying expert qualification for nursing experts and the standard applicable to a request for permission to disclose a new expert following a ruling that the party’s timely disclosed expert is unqualified.  Cox v Hartman, ___ Mich App ___; ___NW2d ____ (2017) (Docket Nos 333849, 333994). […]

• Take 2? Supreme Court Asked to Revisit Harrison

  December 20, 2017

  Harrison v Munson Hospital leaves the Court of Appeals for a second time on its way to the Supreme Court to possibly consider whether or to what extent peer-review documents can serve as a basis for attorney sanctions. The Supreme Court is once again being asked to address the question of whether a peer-review document […]

• Court of Appeals Addresses a Plaintiff’s Ability to Pursue New Theories of Malpractice Not Included in the Plaintiff’s Notice of Intent

  October 31, 2017

  The Court of Appeals released a published opinion on October 24, 2017 addressing the analysis required by a trial court where the plaintiff’s experts in a medical malpractice action abandon the standard of care theories in the plaintiff’s notice of intent (NOI) and articulate entirely new standard of care theories not addressed in the notice […]

• Live to File Another Day

  July 11, 2017

  Michigan Supreme Court Addresses Significance of Notice of Intent Service Date to the Tolling of the Statute of Limitations in Medical Malpractice Actions On June 27, 2017, the Michigan Supreme Court released its opinion in Haksluoto v Mt. Clemens Regional Med Cntr addressing the significance of the date of service of a notice of intent […]

• Court Sets Timer on Oppression Claims

  May 22, 2017

  (May 23, 2017) The managing member of a limited liability company makes a decision that unfairly impacts the minority members’ interest in the business, but does not have an immediate economic impact. Rather, the economic impact does not occur until several years later, when the LLC is sold and the proceeds of the sale are […]

• Do You Want to Place a Bet?

  January 18, 2017

  The Strategic Use of Offers of Judgment (January 19, 2017) We previously discussed ways to recover fees in litigation through contract or statutory provisions. But what if you don’t have a contract or statute allowing you to recover your fees from the other party? The Michigan Court Rules provide another avenue for a party to […]

• New Statute Precludes Plaintiffs in Medical Malpractice Actions from Recovering Windfall in Economic Damages

  January 17, 2017

  (January 18, 2017) Under certain contractual agreements between health insurers and medical providers, many medical providers agree to accept a reduced amount for medical services provided to the patient as payment in full.  The difference between the amount billed and the amount actually accepted as payment in full by the provider is commonly referred to […]

• Recent Ruling Reinforces the Importance of Understanding Contract Terms

  December 2, 2016

  (December 2, 2016) An opinion issued recently by the Michigan Court of Appeals highlights the need for business organizations to pay special attention to not only the language of contracting documents, but also to understand the meaning and consequences of any documents incorporated into those contracts “by reference.” In Naturipe Foods, LLC v Siegel Egg […]

• Federal Court Throws New Overtime Rules Into Limbo

  November 23, 2016

  (November 23, 2016) Businesses from coast to coast have spent the last several months analyzing and making plans to implement the Department of Labor’s new overtime rules which basically doubled the compensation floor for salaried employees and were to go into effect on December 1, 2016.  That all changed Tuesday, November 22nd, when U.S. Federal […]

• Opinion Highlights Danger of Vicarious Liability based on Teaching Contracts with Non-Employed Physicians

  November 1, 2016

  (November 1, 2016) In a recent unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s decision granting partial summary disposition in favor of defendant Oakwood Healthcare on the plaintiff’s claim of vicarious liability based on the conduct of on-call surgeon Alice Shanaver, DO.  Thomas v Oakwood Healthcare (COA Docket No. 326072).  The plaintiff’s claims […]