Bill Text: MI SB0774 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Civil procedure; small claims; representation by attorney in small claims court; allow. Amends secs. 8408 & 8412 of 1961 PA 236 (MCL 600.8408 & 600.8412).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-10-25 - Referred To Committee On Judiciary [SB0774 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2011-SB0774-Introduced.html

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SENATE BILL No. 774

 

October 25, 2011, Introduced by Senator BIEDA and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

 

     A bill to amend 1961 PA 236, entitled

 

"Revised judicature act of 1961,"

 

by amending sections 8408 and 8412 (MCL 600.8408 and 600.8412),

 

section 8408 as amended by 1991 PA 192 and section 8412 as amended

 

by 1984 PA 278.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 8408. (1) An attorney at law , except on the attorney's

 

own behalf, a collection agency or agent or employee of a

 

collection agency, or a person other than the plaintiff and

 

defendant, except as is otherwise provided in this chapter, shall

 

not may take part in the filing, prosecution, or defense of

 

litigation in the small claims division.

 

     (2) A sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation as

 

plaintiff or defendant in the small claims division may be

 

represented by an officer or employee who has direct and personal

 

knowledge of facts in dispute. If the officer or employee who has

 

direct and personal knowledge of facts in dispute is no longer

 

employed by the defendant or plaintiff or is medically unavailable,

 

the representation may be made by that person's supervisor, or by

 

the sole proprietor, a partner, or an officer or a member of the

 

board of directors of a corporation.

 

     (3) A county, city, village, township, or local or

 

intermediate school district as plaintiff or defendant in the small

 

claims division may be represented only by an elected or appointed

 

officer or an employee who has direct and personal knowledge of the

 

facts in dispute. If the officer or employee who has direct and

 

personal knowledge of the facts in dispute is no longer an officer

 

or employee of the plaintiff or defendant, the representation may

 

be made by that officer's successor or that employee's supervisor,

 

or by a member of the governing body of the county, city, village,

 

township, or local or intermediate school district. In addition, a

 

person may not represent a county, city, village, township, or

 

local or intermediate school district in the small claims division

 

unless authorized to appear in the case by the governing body of

 

the county, city, village, township, or local or intermediate

 

school district.

 

     (4) Before commencement of a trial in the small claims

 

division, the plaintiff or defendant may, upon demand, require that

 

the trial be conducted before a district court judge and not a

 

magistrate, or may remove the case from the small claims division

 

to the general civil division of the district court. If the parties

 

commence a trial of the case in the small claims division, both

 

parties waive all rights mentioned in section 8412.

 

     Sec. 8412. Unless a party removes a small claims action to the

 

district court pursuant to under section 8408(4), all parties to an

 

action in the small claims division shall be considered to have

 

waived the right to counsel, the right to trial by jury, the right

 

to recover more than the applicable jurisdictional amount as

 

prescribed by section 8401, and any right of appeal, except that if

 

the action is heard before a district court magistrate pursuant to

 

under section 8427, the parties have a right to an appeal to the

 

small claims division of the district court as provided by section

 

8427. The affidavit prescribed in section 8402 shall contain a

 

statement that the plaintiff understands that he or she has waived

 

these rights.