Prins v. Michigan State Police

831 N.W.2d 867, 299 Mich. App. 634
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 5, 2013
DocketDocket No. 309803
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 831 N.W.2d 867 (Prins v. Michigan State Police) 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
Prins v. Michigan State Police, 831 N.W.2d 867, 299 Mich. App. 634 (Mich. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

In this cost, attorney-fee, and compensatory-damages dispute under the Freedom of [636]*636Information Act (FOIA), MCL 15.231 et seq., plaintiff, Nancy Ann Prins, appeals as of right the circuit court’s opinion and order granting plaintiffs motion for summary disposition, awarding plaintiff $12,250 in attorney fees and $500 in punitive damages, and denying plaintiffs request for compensatory damages. We vacate the circuit court’s attorney-fee determination, remand for a reevaluation of that issue, and affirm the circuit court’s order in all other respects.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

This is the second time this case is before this Court. As set forth in this Court’s prior opinion in Prins v Mich State Police, 291 Mich App 586, 587-588; 805 NW2d 619 (2011), the facts and procedural history leading up to the first appeal are as follows:

On May 4, 2008, Michigan State Police trooper James Yeager stopped a vehicle driven by plaintiff Nancy Prins. Trooper Yeager issued Prins’s passenger, Jack Elliott, a citation for not wearing a seat belt. In a letter dated July 22,2008, Prins submitted a FOIA request to the state police seeking, among other things, “[a]ny recording or other electronic media taken by Trooper James Yeager (officer no 987) on May 4th, 2008 between the hours of 10:00 am to 12:00 pm of me while traveling upon Morrison Lake Rd and Grand River Rd, within Boston Twp., Ionia County, Michigan.” In a letter dated July 26, 2008, a Saturday, the state police denied Prins’s request, explaining, “Any in car video that may have existed is no longer available. Only kept 30 days [and] reused.” The envelope enclosing the letter to Prins bore a postmark of July 29, 2008, a Tuesday.
On October 29, 2008, Elliott appeared at a hearing to contest his seat belt citation, and the prosecutor produced the videotape depicting the May 4, 2008, traffic stop. On January 26, 2009, Prins filed in the Ionia Circuit Court a complaint seeking damages for defendants’ violation of the FOIA. The state police moved for summary disposition on [637]*637the ground that the applicable period of limitation, MCL 15.240(l)(b), barred Prins’s FOIA action. The state police asserted that the 180-day period began to run on July 26, 2008, the date the police authored the denial letter, and that Prins untimely filed her complaint 184 days later. Prins countered that the act of mailing the denial letter triggered the 180-day time limit, rendering her complaint timely. In a bench opinion, the circuit court granted defendants summary disposition.

In the first appeal, we addressed the issue of “whether the 180-day period of limitation begins to run when a public body writes a letter denying access to information, or when the public body places the denial letter in the mail.” Id. at 587. On February 15, 2011, we issued an opinion, holding that “mailing triggers the running of the 180-day period of limitation.” Id. We reversed the circuit court’s order granting summary disposition in favor of defendants and remanded for further proceedings. Id. at 587, 591-592.

On June 29, 2011, the Michigan Supreme Court granted the Michigan State Police’s application for leave to appeal. Prins v Mich State Police, 489 Mich 979; 799 NW2d 17 (2011). However, on January 25, 2012, our Supreme Court vacated that order and denied the application for leave to appeal because the Court no longer believed that the questions presented merited review. Prins v Mich State Police, 490 Mich 988; 807 NW2d 298 (2012).

On February 21, 2012, plaintiff moved the circuit court for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(9) (failure to state a valid defense), requesting a judgment in her favor, a finding that defendants’ actions were arbitrary and capricious under MCL 15.240(7), and a hearing date to determine her damages. The circuit court held a hearing on March [638]*63815, 2012, to address plaintiffs motion. Defendants acknowledged that, in light of the appellate decisions, the issue before the court was “really the matter of damages.” Plaintiff requested attorney fees for 104.73 hours worked at $385 per hour, $500 in punitive damages, and $7,500 in compensatory damages.1 In response, defendants argued that plaintiffs attorney-fee request was excessive (particularly because counsel was only charging plaintiff $295 per hour), punitive damages were not warranted because the denial of plaintiffs FOIA request was not arbitrary and capricious, and plaintiffs request for compensatory damages was “without any real basis” and “unrelated to the matter before the Court.” The circuit court indicated that it was inclined to grant plaintiffs motion for summary disposition and to award plaintiff reasonable attorney fees; the court explained that it would provide the parties with an opportunity to submit proofs regarding the amount of reasonable attorney fees at a later hearing. Plaintiff, however, requested that proofs be submitted during the instant hearing, to which defendants and the trial court agreed.

The court accepted as evidence plaintiffs retainer agreement, plaintiffs itemized bill, and excerpts from the State Bar of Michigan 2010 Economics of Law Practice Attorney Income and Billing Rate Summary Report. The court also heard testimony from plaintiff regarding her request for compensatory damages. Specifically, plaintiff testified that her husband was shot and killed by a Michigan State Police Trooper in 1998; however, the “official record” was that her husband committed suicide. Plaintiff explained that she made a FOIA request with the Michigan State Police to obtain “basically anything [639]*639they had of any of the details of what happened.” But the documents that she had received were “crossed out with a black marker” so that she “couldn’t read everything,” and the photographs provided were of such a poor quality that “you couldn’t really see what the photographs were.” As a result, plaintiff was disappointed and felt that the Michigan State Police lied to her. Plaintiff further testified that, as a result of the denial of her FOIA request in the present case, she feels as if the Michigan State Police “aren’t included in your friends who are there to help you.” Plaintiff felt that they are “deceptive and lying” and, therefore, that she should receive compensatory damages. The court advised the parties that it would take the matter under advisement to review the evidence and issue a written opinion.

The circuit court issued its opinion and order on April 2, 2012, granting plaintiffs motion for summary disposition. The court dismissed plaintiffs claims against defendant, David Fedewa, on the basis that Fedewa was not a public body. The court denied plaintiffs request for compensatory damages, explaining that there was no proof of a nexus between the death of plaintiffs husband and the FOIA request in this case. The court also stated that plaintiff had failed to present legal authority to award such damages. The court then concluded that plaintiff was entitled to $500 in punitive damages because the denial of her FOIA request was arbitrary and capricious. Finally, regarding attorney fees the Court stated, “This Court has reviewed the attorney fees requested by Defendant [sic] and determines without any disrespect to defense [sic] counsel’s experience or expertise, that a reasonable attorney fee for representation at the trial and appellate court levels is $175 per hour at 70 hours or $12,250 . .. .”

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Bluebook (online)
831 N.W.2d 867, 299 Mich. App. 634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/prins-v-michigan-state-police-michctapp-2013.