On October 20, the Court of Appeals released a 2-1 published opinion on the issue of governmental immunity. In that case, the police chief of a Michigan village was sued by a person he arrested for assault and battery and false arrest.

Governmental immunity from tort liability is governed by MCL 691.1407. Subsection 5 of the statute reads: "A judge, legislator, and the elective or highest appointive executive official of all levels of government are immune from tort liability for injuries to persons or damages to property if he or she is acting within the scope of his or her judicial, legislative, or executive authority." This provision is known in the law as "absolute immunity."

In the Court of Appeals majority opinion, Judges Fitzgerald and Krause held that a police chief, as the highest executive official of a level of government, only enjoys absolute immunity when performing acts "within the scope of his executive authority," and that "[w]hen a police chief acts as an ordinary police officer - that is, when the nature of the act is outside the scope of his executive duties - he is not entitled to absolute immunity simply because he is also the police chief."

Judge Murray dissented, reasoning that because the village's police chief presented an unrebutted affidavit stating that part of his duties as police chief included making arrests, and because the Legislature has given all police officers the authority to make arrests, the making of arrests does fall within the scope of the police chief's executive duties for which he is entitled to absolute immunity.

The full majority opinion and dissenting opinion may be found at http://www.michbar.org/opinions/appeals/2011/102011/49998.pdf.

For more information about governmental immunity issues, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Legislation passed earlier this year eliminated the Michigan Business Tax and established instead a new Corporate Income Tax. In so doing, the new law removed most tax credits, including the income tax exemptions previously afforded to businesses and residents within established Renaissance Zones.

On October 12, Senators Hildenbrand (R - 29^th District) and Hansen (R - 37^th District) introduced Senate Bill 748, which would reinstate the income tax exemption for qualified taxpayers who were residing in a Renaissance Zone area prior to the passage of the new Corporate Income Tax law.

Senate Bill 748 has been referred to the Committee on Finance. Michigan Municipal League has stated that it plans to work with Senators Hildenbrand and Hansen toward passage of the bill. For more information about this issue, contact Attorney Andria Ditschman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Under current Michigan law 1978 PA 566, public officers are prohibited from holding incompatible offices. House Bill 4458 - passed by both the House and Senate and awaiting the Governor's signature - will provide an exception to that law, allowing a public officer in a Michigan city, village, township or county with a population of less than 3,000 to also serve as fire chief in that local unit. The Bill was first introduced by Representative Paul Muxlow (R - 83^rd District, Brown City) on March 22, 2011.

House Bill 4458 was presented to Governor Snyder for signature on Friday, October 14. For more information about public officers and incompatible offices, contact Attorney Andria Ditschman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

On Wednesday, Chrysler and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union reached a tentative agreement regarding a new collective bargaining agreement.  The new agreement, which will cover approximately 26,000 Chrysler employees, is said to include the creation of 2,100 new jobs by the end of 2015 and also said to include 4.5 billion of investment to produce Chrysler models and upgrade existing models.

This agreement models agreements previously struck between the UAW and General Motors and Ford.  Those deals included pay increases for new workers and bonuses for long standing employees to make up for cost-of living increases and automatic pay increases, both of which were eliminated.

The tentative contract will now we submitted to UAW members for a vote.