Court Opinion

ID: 9526085
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:11:51.237069+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:18:21.322012
License: Public Domain

White, J.
(concurring in part and dissenting in part?) I join in the majority’s discussion of the first issue concerning the denial of expert witness fees for failure to comply with the first pretrial order. I dissent from the majority’s conclusion that the depositions were not filed in accordance with MCL 600.2549; MSA 27A.2549. I would affirm the trial court’s decision that the acts taken by counsel during trial constituted filing under the statute.
During trial, the original of the depositions were presented to the court and given to the court recorder/clerk, who was a deputy clerk with the clerk’s office. The depositions were used at trial and were left with the recorder/clerk for the file. The recorder/clerk then sent them back to the attorney because of lack of space. While the depositions were apparently not time-stamped and entered into the docket before their return, they were still given to the deputy clerk to be part of the court record. I would affirm the trial court’s implicit determinations that filing with a deputy clerk operating in a courtroom is filing in “any clerk’s office”1 and that in the instant case, counsel’s actions in giving the originals to the *384court to be kept for the file constituted filing,2 notwithstanding that the recorder/clerk later returned the depositions.3
I do not believe that Portelli v I R Constr Products Co, Inc, 218 Mich App 591, 606-607; 554 NW2d 591 (1996), compels a different conclusion. In Portelli, the depositions themselves were never given to the court clerk; rather, excerpts were included in the defendant’s motion for summary disposition, which was filed with the court clerk. Had counsel in Portelli presented the entire deposition transcript to the court clerk upon arguing the motion for summary disposition, a different result may have obtained. Here, the depositions themselves were given to the deputy clerk to become part of the file.

 I do not view a policy that permits “bench filing” with an official deputy clerk in the courtroom as contrary to the statute. A courtroom with a deputy clerk who is authorized to accept filings may be regarded as “any clerk’s office” under the statute.

 MCE 2.302(H) provides that except in certain situations, discovery materials, including depositions, may not be filed with the court. In many circuits, the court clerk’s office will not accept depositions for filing, and the formal filing of the deposition takes place in the courtroom during trial.

 The trial court read the statute into the record and said:
So I can only read that for exactly what it says to me, filed in any clerk’s office and read as evidence. So — and there were, I think, 37 depositions that were read as evidence. And for purposes of this hearing, over [defense counsel’s] objection, I’m considering them filed in any clerk’s office, because they were given to Mrs. Kuelbs [the recorder/deputy clerk] and she kept those for the file, however, sent them back because of the volume involved.