Progress. As the Michigan Supreme Court considered its administrative file (in 2023) to amend a court rule that would allow parties and attorneys to include any preferred personal pronoun in the caption section of court filings and would require courts to use those pronouns (unless doing so would result in an unclear record), I submitted…
Category: Procedural fairness
Self-represented litigant receives warning (not sanctions) for submitting “false and nonexistent legal authority”
A federal district court judge in New York’s Southern District recently used her discretion to warn a self-represented litigant about submitting false and nonexistent legal authority to the Court. Sanctions may be imposed for submitting false and nonexistent legal authority to the Court. See, e.g., Park v. Kim, 91 F.4th 610, 613-16 (2d Cir. 2024)…
Seeing how judicial decision-making benefits when using a “focus order”
A “focus order” is an order from the court to the parties directing them to focus their upcoming briefing and argument on specified issues. The Michigan Supreme Court routinely includes “focus” instructions in its argument orders. For years, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers has found the focus order tool to be positive and productive…
Court data errors happen, and can be managed
A Michigan Supreme Court justice recently noted a data-entry error in the trial court’s judgment of sentence. And she reminded how it can be corrected. Indeed, MCR 6.435 allows: Rule 6.435 – Correcting Mistakes (A) Clerical Mistakes. Clerical mistakes in judgments, orders, or other parts of the record and errors arising from oversight or omission may…
Corrections happen
The Michigan Supreme Court decided Marion v Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company (Docket No. 164298) on June 5, 2024. The .pdf that was first released was created at 2:29 p.m. Just like with lawyers and paralegals, sometimes an oversight is recognized after the file is submitted. And that happened here. An updated .pdf file was…
To require a notarized signature or not: A simplified workflow for reviewing court form signature requirements
Appreciated the chance to take the research and writing lead on this white paper just published by the National Center for State Courts about how to reconsider court form notarization requirements. To require a notarized signature or not: A simplified workflow for reviewing court form signature requirements
Contributing to improving A2J and preventing downstream problems—one of the best parts of court administration work
Starting January 1, 2024, indigent individuals will no longer have to pay the cost for any ordered newspaper publication in Michigan name change matters. Thanks to today’s amendment of MCR 3.613 by the Michigan Supreme Court, the local court will have to pay any newspaper publication cost if the court has otherwise waived fees under…
Print disabilities: visual examples
Millions in the United States have impaired vision because of uncorrected refractive error, and many suffer vision impairment even after correction. A great many people cannot read small font or “the fine print.” Fantastic (but worrisome) examples of how those with different visual-related print disabilities struggle with print text are included in this informative, one-hour…
Three reasons why a proposed Michigan court rule that would invite and recognize self-identified pronouns does not offend the Constitution.
“If the judge wants everyone to respect and adhere to their pronoun of ‘Your Honor’ they must give the same respect they are receiving.” — Johanna C. Szalankiewicz’s written comment to the Michigan Supreme Court supporting ADM 2022-03 “When you meet a dog on the street, the owner might correct you and tell you the…
The “write” stuff: 15 writing tips for the self-represented
Folks write and (e)file their own court papers in civil and criminal cases each day. Ordinary people—like Clarence Earl Gideon (handwritten in pencil) and Steven Alan Levin (formatted in Microsoft Word)—have successfully petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States on their own. The Michigan Supreme Court ordered oral argument on two handwritten applications filed…