The Trentadue decision of 20o7 was important because it overturned common law concerning the window of opportunity to bring suit. A murder, unsolved for 19 years, was the crime at the center of the case. The victim’s daughter wanted to bring suit once the killer was identified. The Michigan Supreme court went against common law and set a three-year window, even if the killer remained unknown.
I have had more than casual interest in the murder of Janet Chandler in 1979. I, with the help of wonderful students at Hope College (I was teaching there at the time), made a film that started people talking. The initial result was the formation of a cold-case team that spent two years investigating. The result of that was the arrest and either plea or conviction of six people, all now in prison. Five of those six were Wackenhut security guards, including the head of a strike detail that had been dispatched to little Holland, MI, where a number of those guards abducted and murdered Janet.
Her parents, Jim and Glenna Chandler, have sought damages against Wackenhut, and one of the impediments in their civil suit has been the Trentadue decision.
When the court granted leave earlier this year to hear a new case, Colaianni v Stuart Frankel Development, there was the possibility that the case might overturn Trentadue, and that it would matter very much. It seemed that the votes might be there to overturn…but it didn’t happen.
Word came down today that the Colaianni suit is dismissed. While I am pleased for the parties, I’m disappointed that there was no further move to return to common law and common sense.
So, from here for the Chandlers? Their suit (now on appeal) still goes forward at the U.S. Circuit Court, but this might have helped.
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Is it true that Justice Maura Corrigan is going to leave the Court? Channel Six in Lansing reports that incoming Gov. Rick Snyder has tapped her to head the Department of Human Services.
The story makes note of her “extensive background with foster care and adoptive services, which are overseen by the Department of Human Services.” Just because reporter Tim Skubick says it doesn’t necessarily make it so. If anything, the In re J.K. would illustrate just the opposite, and it is cause for concern that the new Governor would not have a sense of this.
But this is will result in another vacancy at the Court (and may I remind you of the moaning and complaining that the Republicans set up when Governor Granholm appointed Justice Alton Tom Davis? According to GOP operative Jennifer Hoff, the Governor was packing the court and her selection was “a party hack.” Wonder what they’ll have to say about Governor Snyder’s selection.
I haven’t heard any names yet, but there comes to me the possibility of Judge Jane Markey. She’s NOT from the Lansing-Detroit beltway (she lives in Grand Rapids) and she was worthy of consideration by the Republicans in the most recent election. She just didn’t make the cut then, losing out on the nomination to Judge Mary Beth Kelly. We’ll see.