Michigan Supreme Court Blog

The full text of all of the opinions cited in our blog are available at the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals websites. The links for both are listed in the column on the right.

The Michigan Court of Appeals recently issued a published opinion dealing with Michigan’s Civil Rights Act that could have significant impact on the availability of certain causes of action not confined only to the prisoner/jailer relationship. In Hamed v Wayne County Plaintiff was in custody of Wayne County deputy sheriffs who transported her to Wayne County Jail. Deputy Johnson was alone on duty in the male registry area of the jail. Jail regulations required attendance of a female deputy in the presence of female inmates. However, upon being contacted, Sgt. Dawash permitted the deputies to leave plaintiff alone with Johnson. The Plaintiff alleged that Johnson subjected her to unwanted sexual conduct in circumstances that suggested that her treatment as an inmate would depend on whether she submitted to that conduct. Johnson then directed her into a private office where he sexually assaulted plaintiff. Johnson was subsequently convicted of criminal sexual conduct. The trial court er...

On July 1, 2009, the Michigan Supreme Court issued two separate but intertwined opinions dealing with the issue of whether prosecutors can use a criminal defendant's post-arrest, post- Miranda silence as evidence in the prosecution's case-in-chief or as impeachment of the defendant should he provide exculpatory testimony in defense of the charges. In People v Shafier and People v Borgne , Justice Michael F. Cavanagh, writing for the majority (Justice Marilyn Kelly concurring), reached opposite results on what at first blush may seem to be identical cases. In Shafier , the defendant was convicted of two counts of Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct based upon the allegations of his 13 year-old adopted daughter. The jury acquitted him of three additional counts of First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct. Once the allegation was made, the defendant was immediately arrested and Mirandized. When he was first confronted by the arresting officer about the allegations, the defendant c...

Daily, the Michigan Supreme Court and the Michigan Court of Appeals issue opinions that have a significant impact on the legal community, the business community, schools, government and society in general. It is our hope to provide one central location to afford the oportunity for all to discuss the decisions of Michigan's courts and for us to hopefully simplify and make the decisions easier to understand for the general public. We will present the issues decided, prognosticate on what impact the decision will have and generally discuss the goings on at Michigan's highest courts. We hope this site will provide everyone with informative and valuable insight into the sometimes mysterious high courts. Welcome.