Opinion
358396
03-17-2022
Renee Dine v. 20 Monroe Building Company Limited Partnership
LC No. 21-000933-NO
Douglas B. Shapiro, Mark T. Boonstra, Judges
ORDER
David H. Sawyer, Presiding Judge
The motion for reconsideration is GRANTED, and on reconsideration, the application for leave to appeal is GRANTED. The time for taking further steps in this appeal runs from the date of the Clerk's certification of this order. MCR 7.205(E)(3). This appeal is limited to the issues raised in the application and supporting brief. MCR 7.205(E)(4).
Shapiro, J., would deny the motion for reconsideration of the order denying leave to appeal. The trial court acted within its discretion in declining to find good cause to set aside the default. Defendant was properly served and defense counsel was aware of the deadline to respond. Out of courtesy, plaintiffs counsel agreed to a week's extension of the time to answer the complaint, but defendant still failed to timely file its answer. Negligence of counsel is not good cause to set aside a default. Pascoe v Sova, 209 Mich.App. 297, 298-299; 530 N.W.2d 781 (1995). Defendant's citations to Shawl v Spence Bros, Inc, 280 Mich.App. 213; 760 N.W.2d 64 (2008), and Village of Edmore v Crystal Automation Sys Inc, 322 Mich.App. 244; 911 N.W.2d 241 (2017), are inapposite. In the former, the issue was whether the negligence of an insurance company in failing to answer should be attributed to the insured defendant. In the latter, the set-aside default had been entered despite the fact that the defendant had ''otherwise defended" the action by filing a brief and appearing on plaintiffs motion for an injunction as well as participating in a status conference. I also note that the repeated suggestion in defendant's brief that somehow it was plaintiffs counsel who is at fault for defendant's negligence in failing to respond has no basis in the record and is an example of the adage that "no good deed goes unpunished."