Opinion ID: 842360
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: governmental immunity as an appellate parachute

Text: Long ago, governmental immunity was viewed as a characteristic of government. Mack, supra at 222, 649 N.W.2d 47 (Cavanagh, J., dissenting). However, this view changed once the Legislature codified the common-law doctrine of governmental immunity. Id. at 220, 649 N.W.2d 47. Because the Legislature created no presumption favoring blanket governmental immunity, the existence of immunity had to be raised by the party seeking to benefit from it. Id. Using that reasoning, Justice Cavanagh concluded in his dissent in Mack that governmental immunity is an affirmative defense. Id. I continue to support Justice Cavanagh's dissent. I continue to believe that the better view is that governmental immunity is an affirmative defense and that the government still bears the burden of raising and proving it. In this case, defendant listed governmental immunity as an affirmative defense in its first responsive pleading. However, it never mentioned it again until this Court asked about it. Apparently, because defendant did not mention the issue in its motion for summary disposition, the trial court did not address whether it applied. Because defendant did not mention the issue in the Court of Appeals, that Court did not address whether it applied. [6] Similarly, defendant did not raise the issue before this Court in its application for leave to appeal. [7] In granting leave to appeal, this Court did not order the parties to address the issue. See 477 Mich. 920, 722 N.W.2d 884 (2006). Indeed, the first time the parties [8] clearly addressed the issue of governmental immunity was at oral argument before this Court when Chief Justice Taylor raised it sua sponte. [9] Defendant ignored governmental immunity in this case until the eleventh hour. It should not be able to ignore the doctrine in the trial court and the Court of Appeals, then rely on it at the last minute before this Court. This Court should amend its holding in Mack to discourage a defendant from using governmental immunity as an appellate parachute.