Court Opinion

ID: 9855713
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:29:41.756612+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:36:23.266619
License: Public Domain

E. E. Borradaile, J.

(concurring in result only).

I concur in the result only because I believe that if defendant stipulated to mediation and did not demand a jury trial or rely on plaintiffs demand, it waived its right thereto and thus cannot now complain. I agree with the majority’s opinion on the issues of due process and equal protection.
I write separately, however, because I believe that Wayne County Local Rule 403 (WCCR 403), which provides that failure to reject the mediation board’s evaluation within 40 days from the date on which the evaluation is mailed constitutes acceptance, is constitutionally flawed. WCCR 403.7(e), 403.15.
In cases where the court orders mediation and a a party neither accepts nor rejects the evaluation and demands a trial by jury in cases where jury trial is guaranteed by the constitution, the rule cannot be read as it was read in this case.
Const 1963, art 1, § 14, guarantees a right to a jury trial, and that right must not be abridged. Kahoun v Metropolitan Life Ins Co, 12 Mich App 441; 162 NW2d 922 (1968). Under Michigan’s earlier constitution, it has been held that courts should not whittle away the right. People v Bigge, *477297 Mich 58; 297 NW 70 (1941). The constitutional right to a jury trial must be preserved, although it may be waived. Jones v Eastern Michigan Motorbuses, 287 Mich 619; 283 NW 710 (1939).
The right is described in 47 Am Jur 2d, Jury, § 12, pp 635-636, as follows:
"The right of trial by jury is not absolute in the sense that it has universal application. It is for the most part peculiar to the common law and the systems of jurisprudence stemming therefrom. But the constitutional right to jury trial, where and insofar as it exists, cannot be made a nullity, destroyed, annulled, obstructed, impaired, or restricted by legislative or judicial action.
"* * * It has been observed that the right to jury trial is not to be sacrificed in the interest of economy, although it has been held that in cases of reasonable necessity, personal and proprietary interests may be defended by judicial process without a jury.” (Footnotes omitted.)
Mediation has become a fine vehicle to help relieve pressure from, the court dockets. However, it must not sacrifice constitutionally protected rights on the altar of expediency. While I agree with the majority that the court has discretionary power under GCR 1963, 528.3 to grant relief from judgment based on the enumerated grounds, a court must be very careful to avoid violating basic constitutional rights as well.
I would affirm on the very limited basis of the facts of this case.