Court Opinion

ID: 9668140
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:03:41.367809+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:43.267862
License: Public Domain

Boyle, J.
I dissent because this is not an appropriate case for peremptory disposition. I would grant or deny leave to appeal.
The successor judge stated that he did not find "that the verdict was perverse or that justice ha[d] not been done.” The Court of Appeals found that documentary evidence supported the witnesses’ testimony. The Court of Appeals also observed that a new trial may be granted if the verdict was against the great weight of the evidence, or if the verdict resulted in a miscarriage of justice. The Court stated that the test of the great weight of evidence is whether the verdict is against the overwhelming weight of evidence, and concluded that the successor judge was not required to weigh credibility because "there [was] conflicting evidence [and] the question of credibility [was] for the factfinder.” Unpublished opinion per curiam of the Court of Appeals, decided February 24, 1992 *479(Docket No. 124552), slip op, p 2. These statements are consistent with a long line of prior authority.
Today’s per curiam opinion announces a rule of judicial oversight of the credibility of decisions of trial court juries and remands for a determination by the successor judge of the credibility of the witnesses.
In People v Johnson, 397 Mich 686, 687; 246 NW2d 836 (1976), this Court observed that "[a]s the trier of fact, the jury is the final judge of credibility.” Unfortunately, however, the opinion in Johnson (hereafter Johnson IT) and an earlier order from this Court (People v Johnson, 391 Mich 834 [1974]) contain language that intimates judicial oversight of the credibility decisions of trial court juries. The Court of Appeals opinion in the case resulting in the first order of this Court in Johnson, People v Johnson, 52 Mich App 385; 217 NW2d 417 (1974), was based on a finding of injustice. The order of reversal relied on the dissenting opinion in Sloan v Kramer-Orloff Co, 371 Mich 403, 410-412; 124 NW2d 255 (1963). The issue in Johnson II was the standard for dismissal of charges. Therefore, the discussion in the opinion in Johnson regarding credibility oversight was dicta.
Thus, the rule announced in today’s opinion, without benefit of oral argument and full briefing, is one that is new to Michigan’s jurisprudence. In my judgment, it is singularly inappropriate to adopt a thirteenth juror rule by per curiam opinion.
Additionally, the opinion remands for an evaluation of credibility — something that the successor judge clearly cannot do. Thus, without any guidance from this Court regarding how credibility is to be evaluated, see Carbo v United States, 314 F2d 718 (CA 9, 1963), which the opinion expressly declines to do, ante, p 478, n 16, the court and the *480parties are left with the unenviable prospect of successive appeals addressing the question.
The question whether a trial judge may sit as the thirteenth juror, overruling the credibility determinations of the other twelve, and the standard by which a successor judge is to evaluate motions for new trial on the basis of credibility are matters of major significance to the state’s jurisprudence. I would grant or deny leave to appeal.
Brickley, J., concurred with Boyle, J.
Riley, J., took no part in the decision of this case.