Kathleen Jansen

• Halbrook v. Honda Motor Co.

  Michigan Court of Appeals · 1997-10-08 · cited 11×

  In this wrongful death case, plaintiffs sued Honda and related defendants after a high-speed motorcycle collision on a public road killed two children and the motorcycle rider, James Bondie, and injured another driver; the claims alleged negligence in the design, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of a motorcycle capable of excessive speed and acceleration. The trial court granted summary disposition to defendants under MCR 2.116(C)(8) and (C)(10), and the Court of Appeals affirmed. The court held that manufacturers owe no duty to limit vehicle speed or acceleration capabilities or to alter advertising for adult consumers, reasoning that while speeding is foreseeable, public policy, the driver's own conduct, and the absence of proximate cause from the ads preclude liability, distinguishing precedents involving sales to children.

  torts & liability

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• Setterington v. Pontiac General Hospital

  Michigan Court of Appeals · 1997-08-22 · cited 24×

  This case was a wrongful death medical malpractice action brought by the personal representative of Jane Fahr against Pontiac General Hospital and physicians, alleging failure to timely diagnose her cancerous thigh tumor despite multiple CT scans in 1987 and 1988, which allowed the cancer to progress to metastasis and her death in 1990. The jury found the radiologists were hospital agents who breached the standard of care and that the breach proximately caused Fahr's loss of a substantial opportunity to survive, awarding over $250,000 in damages. The appellate court affirmed, holding that precedent permitted recovery based on evidence of a 60% survival chance with proper earlier treatment and finding no preserved or meritorious errors regarding causation, agency, damages calculations, or the denial of additur.

  torts & liabilityhealthcare

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• People v. Law

  Michigan Court of Appeals · 1997-08-22 · cited 1×

  In People v. Law, the defendant pleaded guilty to desertion and abandonment for failing to support his minor child from 1990 to 1992 and appealed the trial court's restitution order requiring payment of over $89,000 plus interest for unpaid child support and medical expenses dating back to his 1979 divorce. The Michigan Court of Appeals held that restitution could include losses from the defendant's broader course of conduct in neglecting his children, as authorized by the Crime Victim’s Rights Act, and that the Act applied because the charged crime occurred after its 1985 effective date. However, the court reversed the order because the trial court failed to consider the defendant's financial resources and ability to pay as required by statute, and it ruled that interest could not be added since the criminal restitution statute does not authorize it. The case was remanded for further proceedings addressing the statutory factors.

  criminal lawfamily law

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• City of Detroit v. Sledge

  Michigan Court of Appeals · 1997-07-16 · cited 3×

  The case involved the City of Detroit issuing approximately thirty-nine appearance tickets to defendant for violations of a housing ordinance requiring certificates of approval for occupied dwellings. The district court dismissed the tickets on multiple grounds, including that building inspectors lacked authority to issue them, but the Recorder’s Court reinstated the tickets after finding implicit authority under the city charter. The Court of Appeals reversed the Recorder’s Court, holding that the tickets were improperly issued. The court reasoned that state statute MCL 764.9c requires a public servant other than a police officer to be specially authorized by a specific ordinance for a particular class of offenses, and general charter provisions do not satisfy this explicit requirement.

  criminal lawprocedurebusiness & regulatory

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