Lana Tyrrell v. University of Michigan

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 22, 2020
Docket349020
StatusPublished

This text of Lana Tyrrell v. University of Michigan (Lana Tyrrell v. University of Michigan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lana Tyrrell v. University of Michigan, (Mich. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

LANA TYRRELL, FOR PUBLICATION December 22, 2020 Plaintiff-Appellee, 9:10 a.m.

v No. 349020 Washtenaw Circuit Court UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, TERI GRIEB, LC No. 18-000812-CD VALERIE HILL, MELISSA DYSON, JESSICA DURRKIN, and CARRIE PETERSON,

Defendants-Appellants.

Before: GADOLA, P.J., and RONAYNE KRAUSE and O’BRIEN, JJ.

O’BRIEN, J.

At issue in this appeal is whether a plaintiff proceeding in circuit court against a state defendant is required to comply with MCL 600.6431(1) of the Court of Claims Act (COCA), MCL 600.6401 et seq. This in turn requires us to address whether compliance with MCL 600.6431(1) is a question of governmental immunity or a question of compliance with the rules for proceeding in the Court of Claims. For the reasons explained in this opinion, we conclude that compliance with MCL 600.6431(1) both (1) does not implicate governmental immunity absent the Legislature conditioning its consent to be sued on compliance with the COCA and (2) is only necessary for claims proceeding in the Court of Claims. We therefore affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff filed a complaint against defendants in circuit court alleging discrimination and retaliation in violation of Michigan’s Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act (PWDCRA), MCL 37.1101 et seq. Defendants moved for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(4) and (7), arguing that, in order to maintain her claim against a state university and its employees, plaintiff had to comply with the requirements in MCL 600.6431(1), which plaintiff failed to do. According to defendants, plaintiff’s failure to comply with MCL 600.6431(1) required dismissal of her claims. The trial court denied defendants’ motion, and they now appeal.

-1- II. JURISDICTION

Though defendants moved for summary disposition in part under MCR 2.116(C)(4), they do not contest the circuit court’s jurisdiction to hear this case.1 In fact, they concede on appeal that “the Court of Claims and the circuit courts have concurrent jurisdiction over statutory civil rights claims” like plaintiff’s. See, e.g., Doe v Dep’t of Transp, 324 Mich App 226, 238-239; 919 NW2d 670 (2018) (holding that because the plaintiff had a right to a jury trial in her civil rights claim against the state defendant, the circuit court retained jurisdiction by way of MCL 600.6421(1), while the Court of Claims had concurrent jurisdiction by way of MCL 600.6419). Thus, the only question on appeal is whether defendants were entitled to summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(7).

Defendants appealed as of right the trial court’s denial of their motion under MCR 2.116(C)(7). An order denying summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(7) is appealable to this Court as of right only if the order denied governmental immunity to a governmental party.2 MCR 7.202(6)(a)(v); MCR 7.203(A)(1).

When defendants filed their appeal, they understandably believed that plaintiff’s failure to comply with the requirements of MCL 600.6431(1) implicated governmental immunity. In Progress Michigan v Attorney Gen, 324 Mich App 659, 666; 922 NW2d 654 (2018) (Progress I), rev’d Progress Michigan v Attorney Gen, ___ Mich ___; ___ NW2d ___ (2020) (Docket No. 158150) (Progress II), this Court held that “[the] defendant’s assertion that [the] plaintiff failed to comply with MCL 600.6431(1) does constitute a claim that [the] defendant was entitled to governmental immunity.” This holding was the basis for defendants’ appeal as of right.

Our Supreme Court, however, recently reversed Progress I. The Progress II Court questioned this Court’s analysis of whether failure to comply with MCL 600.6431 implicated governmental immunity, but declined to decide the issue. In doing so, the Progress II Court reasoned, “Whether compliance with [MCL 600.6431] is properly considered a question of immunity or a question of compliance with the rules of the forum is a question of no moment because [the] plaintiff was required to comply with the COCA either way.” Progress II, ___ Mich at ___ (slip op at 10). Though the Supreme Court did not expressly overrule Progress I’s holding

1 In their reply brief on appeal, defendants contend that the Court of Claims had exclusive jurisdiction over some of plaintiff’s claims, but we decline to address those arguments because, having been first raised in a reply brief, they are not properly before this Court. Blazer Foods, Inc v Rest Properties, Inc, 259 Mich App 241, 252; 673 NW2d 805 (2003). 2 A party can move for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(7) for a number of reasons besides governmental immunity, including “release, payment, prior judgment, . . . statute of limitations, statute of frauds, an agreement to arbitrate or to litigate in a different forum, infancy or other disability of the moving party, or assignment or other disposition of the claim before commencement of the action.” MCR 2.116(C)(7). In their brief on appeal, defendants at one point refer to the issue they raised in their dispositive motion as “a statute of limitations challenge,” which we assume is a mistake because a denial of such a motion is not appealable to this Court as of right.

-2- that a failure to comply with MCL 600.6431(1) implicates governmental immunity, its reasoning effectively mooted the question. Under these circumstances, the Supreme Court’s reversal of Progress I rendered this Court’s discussion of whether MCL 600.6431 implicated governmental immunity to be without precedential value. See Dunn v Detroit Auto Inter-Ins Exch, 254 Mich App 256, 266; 657 NW2d 153 (2002) (holding that a Supreme Court decision reversing a decision of the Court of Appeals that “in effect, moot[s] any further question regarding” an issue decided by the Court of Appeals renders “any discussion” of the mooted question “by the Court of Appeals to be without precedential value”).

Thus, as it now stands, it is undecided whether a plaintiff’s failure to comply with MCL 600.6431 of the COCA “is properly considered a question of immunity or a question of compliance with the rules of the forum . . . .” Progress II, ___ Mich at ___ (slip op at 10). Addressing this issue, we conclude that plaintiff’s failure to comply with MCL 600.6431 in this case did not implicate governmental immunity, so the trial court’s denial of defendants’ motion under MCR 2.116(C)(7) was not appealable as of right.

A court is, at all times, required to question sua sponte its own jurisdiction. Straus v Governor, 459 Mich 526, 532; 592 NW2d 53 (1999). Whether this Court has jurisdiction to hear an appeal is a question of law reviewed de novo. Chen v Wayne State Univ, 284 Mich App 172, 191; 771 NW2d 820 (2009).

“[T]he state is immune from suit unless, and only to the extent that, it consents to be sued[.]” Progress II, ___ Mich at ___ (slip op at 7). Our Supreme Court explained the reasoning for this in Ross v Consumers Power Co (On Rehearing), 420 Mich 567, 598; 363 NW2d 641 (1984), stating:

From statehood forward, Michigan jurisprudence recognized that the sovereign (the state) was immune from all suits, including suits for tortious injuries which it had caused. The rationale for sovereign immunity was never grounded in a belief that the state could do no wrong. Rather, sovereign immunity existed in Michigan because the state, as creator of the courts, was not subject to them or their jurisdiction. As the Supreme Court stated in Michigan State Bank v Hastings, 1 Doug 225, 236 (Mich, 1844):

The principle is well settled that, while a state may sue, it cannot be sued in its own courts, unless, indeed, it consents to submit itself to their jurisdiction.

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Lana Tyrrell v. University of Michigan, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lana-tyrrell-v-university-of-michigan-michctapp-2020.