Court Opinion

ID: 9491737
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:22:16.69319+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:54.964156
License: Public Domain

ENGEL, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I fully concur in the decision to reverse the judgment and to remand so as to follow our court’s previously expressed decision as a matter of stare decisis. Were this issue before us as an original matter, however, I am quite certain that I would hold that the Michigan legislature and governor did not intend to create a private cause of action, but intended to vest sole enforcement authority in the Attorney General. I find the legislative history most convincing that the legislature and governor were sufficiently concerned about the retention of business in Michigan, in view of the state’s then flagging economy, that they did not want to risk subjecting franchisors to the vagaries of private causes of action for perceived violations of that statute. It seems to me that the Michigan state government knows very well *331how to create a private cause of action when it wants one and that it specifically refrained from doing so here. However, I agree that we are bound to honor our prior decision as a matter of stare decisis and that this is, if anything, reinforced by the Michigan Supreme Court’s refusal to take action on our petition for certification.