Tag: Michigan Law

Legalizing Fraud in Michigan Contract Law

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In 1998, the Michigan Court of Appeals decided a case that dramatically changed the parol evidence rule in Michigan. In UAW-GM Human Resource Center v. KSL Recreation Corporation (KSL), the court reinterpreted the parol evidence rule to hold that because of an express merger clause, evidence of an alleged collateral agreement was inadmissible to change the terms of the contract. Even evidence of fraud was barred in this case. The parol evidence rule bars admission of written or oral evidence that would contradict the terms of the integrated agreement. In most states, however, there is an exception to allow evidence that suggests fraud. The majority opinion in KSL sharply limits this exception. Read More …

Understanding the Overrulings: A Response to Robert Sedler – 56 Wayne L. Rev. 1761

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In The Michigan Supreme Court, Stare Decisis and Overruling the Overrulings, Wayne State University Law School Professor Robert Sedler takes the Michigan Supreme Court to task for abandoning the concept of stare decisis, or the principle that courts should follow their prior opinions. He attributes this abandonment to current Justices Robert Young and Stephen Markman, and to former Justices Maura Corrigan and Clifford Taylor, each of whom was originally appointed to the bench by a Republican governor and each of whom is a self-proclaimed judicial traditionalist. Read More …

Constitutional Law

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Major trends and themes during the Survey period for constitutional law involved: (1) the general lack of independent Michigan constitutional law when a federal constitutional counterpart exists; (2) limited development of independent Michigan constitutional law in which a federal constitutional counterpart exists, most notably involving the protection against cruel or unusual punishment and certain zoning cases; (3) the broadening of the right to confrontation in connection with inadmissibility of certain hearsay statements at criminal trials; (4) clarification of the right against self-incrimination; (5) limiting criminal defendants’ post-conviction procedural rights; (6) refusal to expansively interpret the right to counsel; (7) clarification of the prohibition against double jeopardy in connection with charging and sentencing defendants; (8) strengthening the free exercise of religion; (9) development of issue preservation and the plain error standard of review; and (10) clarification of the applicability of the Headlee Amendment to revenue raising measures by municipalities. Read More …

The Demise Of Privacy: Michigan Cases Post 9/11

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The immediate response of the executive branch was to vastly expand its powers, and that played out across the country in a number of ways. The ACLU worked diligently to increase transparency of government actions on such topics as rendition, military tribunals, torture, warrantless wiretapping, national security letters, political surveillance, ideological exclusion, racial profiling, terrorist watch lists, and naturalization delays. We established the John Adams Project, hiring some of the country’s best criminal defense lawyers to represent people being held at Guantanamo Bay, and we filed a number of important legal challenges in dozens of states. Read More …

Ijury: The Emerging Role of Electronic Communication Devices in the Courtroom

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The courts and often many judges have made no secret of their discontent with the Internet, particularly with regard to its impact on the legal system and trials. Courts have implicitly questioned the relevance of information obtained from the Internet, and have explicitly stated that while “some look to the Internet as an innovative vehicle for communication, the Court continues to warily and wearily view it largely as one large catalyst for rumor, innuendo, and misinformation.” This view may be a result of many judges being from the “old school,” that is, that they either lack an understanding of modern technology, or the desire to deal with such technology in their courtrooms. Read More …

Michigan Road-Ends: Protecting Private Property Rights While Preserving Public Access To Inland Lakes

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The State of Michigan has over 11,000 inland lakes for its residents and visitors to enjoy. In fact, no matter where you are in Michigan, an inland lake is never more than a six mile drive away. Despite the close proximity, discussion of Michigan’s inland lakes reminds many Michiganders of summer trips “Up North,” with days spent swimming, fishing, or boating on bodies of water such as Higgins Lake. Unfortunately, pristine days of relaxation have been replaced with days of courtroom litigation. Read More …

Trading Diplomas for Dollars: How Michigan Lawmakers Could Use Education as an Economic Development Model

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As our nation struggles to endure one of the worst economic crises of its history, and cities across the nation suffer the dire consequences of depressed economies, one major city stands out. That city is Detroit. In 2008, the United States Census Bureau reported that Detroit was the poorest large city in the nation. This statistic is not surprising, considering the many economic problems beleaguering the city. High concentrations of urban poor, as well as the rapid collapse of the major mainstay of the state’s economy—the automobile industry—and the concomitant rise in unemployment and loss of population, all problems by themselves, have collectively resulted in, among other things, an ever-shrinking tax base for the city. To see evidence of the severe economic problems facing the city, one need only drive down a neighborhood street, where, in many instances, “decaying neighborhoods, weedy, trash-strewn lots and vacant, burned-out houses” are the physical tokens of an all-too-common scene: neighborhoods consumed by extreme poverty and urban blight, exacerbated in recent times by the housing catastrophe, and plagued by violent crime, the highest rate experienced by any large city in the nation. Read More …