Sunday, April 12, 2026 — Lansing session energy, Detroit supply chains, Great Lakes spring
The calendar caught up with the law: the U.S. Court of International Trade held a marathon hearing on Michigan’s coalition challenge to Section 122 global tariffs while, two days earlier in Lansing, the Michigan Supreme Court opened its April argument session on juvenile resentencing, compelled exams, no-fault “ownership,” and whether Waltz v Wyse still governs wrongful-death malpractice timing. Below that noise floor, quieter orders — probate Medicaid planning and a Bay City roof that may uncap taxable value — will change how practitioners file tomorrow.
U.S. Court of International Trade — Apr 10, 2026
Last week’s edition flagged the argument date; this week the courtroom filled. A three-judge panel heard roughly three hours of argument over whether a ten-percent levy on most imports — rolled out after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected emergency tariffs under a different statute — fits the Trade Act’s limit on addressing “large and serious” balance-of-payments problems. Michigan remains in the multistate coalition alongside small-business challengers; supply-chain counsel are watching for any signal on preliminary relief before the statute’s 150-day clock becomes the real deadline.
Michigan Supreme Court — April 8–9, 2026 Session
The Court’s revised calendar (seven cases across two days) clusters resentencing, expert evidence, insurance classification, and a high-stakes malpractice-limitations debate. For appellate lawyers, it is a concentrated look at how Michigan’s highest court is choosing between bright-line rules and fact-intensive standards in the mid-2020s.
Criminal Law — Youth, Time, and Parole Reality
James Eads was sentenced as a teenager for second-degree murder in the early 1990s. His counsel pressed the Michigan Supreme Court to treat extreme term-of-years sentences the same way the Court has treated mandatory life without parole for youth — as sentences that must be measured against adolescent brain science and Michigan’s art. 1, § 16 proportionality tradition.
Resentencing is not a clean slate; the gravity of the homicide and decades of post-conviction history matter when evaluating whether a punishment remains constitutionally tolerable.
If parole boards rarely grant release on first eligibility, a fixed minimum measured in decades can operate as a practical life sentence — the very problem Miller and Michigan’s later cases tried to cabin.
People v. Black — Fifth Amendment / Forensic Exam
In a companion resentencing dispute, defense counsel want to rely on a psychiatric evaluation conducted as part of the state’s resentencing process — while also reserving the right to challenge how prosecutors might deploy that exam on cross-examination. The justices probed where the Fifth Amendment line sits when the state both orders evaluation and later seeks to impeach mitigation with it.
“We believe there are many ways to seek truth and protect the accuracy of information while also protecting our client’s constitutional rights.”Defense counsel, post-argument interview — Michigan Public, Apr. 8, 2026
No-Fault — Abdulla v. Progressive Se. Ins. Co.
Mohammed Abdulla was hurt in a Missouri crash while operating a tractor titled to his single-member LLC. The Court of Appeals published split reasoning on whether that structure blocks PIP priority; the Supreme Court ordered supplemental briefing on both “owner” status under MCL 500.3101(3)(l)(i) and household-relative coverage under MCL 500.3111 and 500.3114.
Medical Malpractice — Ernest Estate v. Brown, Jr., M.D.
Medical-malpractice lawyers statewide are watching Thursday’s argument on whether to retain, modify, or abandon Waltz v Wyse’s special framework for when a wrongful-death claim accrues. A change at the top would ripple through screening affidavits, notice windows, and forum decisions in every county.
Probate — In re Estate of Jerome E. Sizick
In a unanimous disposition the Supreme Court held probate courts may consider the anticipated availability of Medicaid when weighing needs under MCL 700.5401(3)(b) — even before DHHS issues a formal eligibility determination — as part of a forward-looking support analysis. The Court overruled contrary Court of Appeals precedent that had treated early Medicaid discussion as inherently premature.
Property Tax — Knier, Powers, Martin, & Smith, LLC v. City of Bay City
The Court of Appeals published decision treated a full roof replacement as “new construction” under MCL 211.34d(1)(b)(iii), allowing taxable value to jump beyond the usual inflation cap. The Supreme Court has now calendared oral argument on the application for leave — with briefing directed at the narrow constitutional and statutory meaning of “addition” under Const 1963, art 9, § 3.
COA No. 366114 — published Aug. 8, 2024 — MSC order setting argument on the application for leave (MiLW, Apr. 7, 2026)
Michigan Lawyers Weekly — Knier order (oral argument on leave) →Public Utilities — Attorney General Intervention
With northern Michigan still recovering from a brutal ice season, the Attorney General publicly criticized Consumers Energy for moving toward another electric rate filing within days of regulators approving a prior increase. Nessel reiterated that her staff will scour every dollar sought — but also called on the Legislature to pursue a bipartisan rewrite of how investor-owned utilities recover capital.
MPSC practice tip: intervenor testimony on capital trackers and storm-hardening spend will likely dominate the next contested hearing cycle.
Michigan Advance — AG Nessel statement on Consumers rate timing, Apr. 6, 2026 →No-Fault — VHS of Michigan, Inc. v. Allstate Ins. Co.
In a March 2026 unpublished decision, the Court of Appeals vacated a trial court order denying penalty interest and counsel fees under the no-fault act. The panel held the trial court erred by importing a free-floating “reasonableness” gloss into MCL 500.3142(2)’s text about when benefits become overdue after reasonable proof of loss.
Civil Procedure — 12Five Capital, LLC v. IMG Marine, LLC
The Court of Appeals reversed denial of a motion to set aside a default judgment where the plaintiff’s MC 07a request omitted certificate-of-mailing details required by MCR 2.603(A)(2). Because the defaulting party had never appeared, the defect was treated as structural good cause to set aside the judgment without reaching the merits of a meritorious defense.
EGLE / MPART — Great Lakes Spring
Spring means more surface-water pairing with fish-tissue sampling as EGLE pushes winter collections into MDHHS Eat Safe Fish updates. Separately, MPART’s FY2025 accounting reported hundreds of enumerated PFAS sites and continued airport-response grants — the kind of administrative record environmental lawyers attach to cost-recovery complaints.
Property Tax — Resort Properties Co-Operative v. Township of Waterloo
The Supreme Court affirmed in lieu of leave: when more than half of a family-cottage cooperative’s shares turn over within the same calendar year, Michigan’s uncapping rules treat that as a qualifying transfer of ownership for the real property the entity holds. Justice Bernstein dissented, warning that aggressive aggregation could unsettle expectations for small shoreline communities.
Coming Up