Michigan

Top Mich. Court to Decide If Mom Who Saw Biker Son’s Fatal Crash Can Collect on Her Own Auto Policy

Insurance companies write the policies under which they contract to cover customers for automobile accidents and related injuries. So it is a general rule of interpretation that any ambiguity in the policy should be resolved in the customer’s favor. But a Michigan appellate court went too far when it decided…

Oct 21, 2011 6:30 PM CDT

Cooley Dismissal Motion Says Misleading Stats Suit Reads ‘Like a Free-Form Rant’

The Thomas M. Cooley Law School comes out swinging in a motion to dismiss a lawsuit that claims students were misled by the school’s job statistics. Cooley’s motion (PDF) claims the plaintiffs’ complaint is so deficient that it violates Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. “The complaint…

Oct 21, 2011 1:59 PM CDT

Underwear Bomber Pleads Guilty in Surprise Turn of Events

Would-be underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has pleaded guilty a day after prosecutors gave opening statements in his Detroit federal trial for attempted murder. Abdulmutallab was charged with a failed attempt to blow up a flight on Christmas Day 2009 by lighting a bomb in his underwear. He surprised the…

Oct 12, 2011 2:50 PM CDT

Another Texas County Mulls Possible MERS Suit; Up to $100M Could Be In Issue in Harris County

With as much as $100 million in unpaid filing fees at issue, another Texas county is pondering possible litigation against those responsible for an electronic system that circumvented the traditional method of recording paperwork when lenders purchase mortgages from each other. On the agenda for a Tuesday meeting of the…

Oct 7, 2011 8:16 PM CDT

Judge Says Defense Lawyer Didn’t Disclose Psych Eval, Refers Him for Criminal Contempt Case

In a highly unusual trial development, a Michigan defense attorney is personally facing a potential criminal contempt charge at the same time that he attempts to defend his client in a related murder case. Edward M. Czuprynski was targeted for potential prosecution by Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran…

Sep 28, 2011 9:25 PM CDT

911 Tapes Chronicle Frantic Call by Lawyer: ‘My Car Blew Up with Two Kids’

Lawyer Erik Chappell dialed 911 on Tuesday in a frantic call after his Volvo station wagon exploded in an apparent bombing, injuring himself and his two sons. Chappell was taking his sons Grant, 13, and Cole, 11, to football practice in Monroe, Mich., when the explosion ignited the car and…

Sep 22, 2011 12:33 PM CDT

Suit Claims Cops Forced 13-Year-Old Boy to Take Alcohol Breath Test After School Complaint

A Michigan teen claims in a lawsuit that police in Livonia forced him to take an alcohol breath test at a school picnic in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The 13-year-old boy says he was wrongly accused, and the breath test registered a zero, the Detroit Free Press reports. An…

Sep 22, 2011 11:00 AM CDT

Judge Expresses Outrage over Law Firm’s Threat to Fire Employee for Jury Service

A Michigan judge overseeing the murder retrial of a comic store owner expressed outrage on Wednesday after a juror claimed her law firm employer planned to fire her because of her lengthy service. The threat was contained in a letter from the firm to a juror deciding the fate of…

Sep 15, 2011 11:41 AM CDT

Armed Pharmacist Who Foiled Robbery and Was Fired Sues Walgreens

When a would-be armed robber hit a Walgreens in southwestern Michigan early one morning in May, the pharmacist was ready to rumble. After a masked man vaulted the pharmacy counter at around 4:30 a.m., surveillance footage attached to an Associated Press article shows, Jeremy Hoven drew on him and reportedly…

Sep 8, 2011 5:41 PM CDT

Any Profit From Ex-Detroit Mayor’s Memoir Will Help Pay His $860K Restitution, Appeals Court Rules

A book written by the former mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, apparently will have to be a best-seller before he sees any substantial profit from writing it. A Michigan appellate court today upheld an earlier Wayne County Circuit Court ruling that any money Kilpatrick makes will be put in an…

Aug 30, 2011 10:55 PM CDT

Criminal Defense Lawyer Awaits Penalty for Telling Judge His Client Confessed to a Shooting

A veteran Michigan criminal defense lawyer is awaiting a decision on how he will be penalized following a legal ethics ruling that found he had violated a fundamental principle of legal ethics by revealing in open court that his client had confessed to a shooting as the two argued during…

Aug 19, 2011 11:18 AM CDT

State Court Administrative Office Recommends Cutting 49 Judgeships in Michigan

Michigan should cut 49 judgeships through attrition, according to a report released today by the State Court Administrative Office. Michigan Chief Justice Robert Young Jr. said at a news conference that his court and the governor have both endorsed the recommendations, the Detroit News reports. The report (PDF) calls for…

Aug 17, 2011 4:34 PM CDT

‘Flippant, Cagey and Cavalier’ Take on Accounts, ‘Spiteful’ Attitude Doom Lawyer’s Reinstatement

It wasn’t any one thing. But a series of attorney discipline and ethics issues, over a period of decades, as well as a Michigan lawyer’s bad attitude persuaded the state Attorney Discipline Board last week to revoke his recent reinstatement to practice. Robert L. Wiggins, Jr. had also articulated a…

Aug 16, 2011 11:08 PM CDT

Ex-Detroit Mayor Ordered to Reimburse State $15K for Prison Stay

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been ordered to pony up $15,190 to the state Corrections Department for his recent prison stay. The money will come from an escrow account Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner ordered to be created for Kilpatrick’s portion of the profits from his recently released…

Aug 12, 2011 9:13 PM CDT

Disqualification Motion Claims Judge Is Too Tough on Drunken Drivers

Corrected: A Michigan judge should be disqualified from hearing drunken driving cases because of her tough DUI sentences, according to a motion filed this week. The motion says Judge Kimberly Small violates the constitutional rights of drunken drivers by sentencing nearly all first-time offenders to jail, the Detroit Free Press…

Aug 12, 2011 1:55 PM CDT