1.10Motion to Correct Mistakes1
In addition to the following discussion, see the Michigan Judicial Institute’s Motion to Correct Mistakes After Judgment Checklist.
“Clerical mistakes in judgments, orders, or other parts of the record and errors arising from oversight or omission may be corrected by the court at any time on its own initiative or on motion of a party, and after notice if the court orders it.” MCR 6.435(A). For example, “[a] prison sentence entered on a judgment that is erroneous because the judge misspoke or the clerk made a typing error is correctable under [MCR 6.435(A)].” 1989 Staff Comment to MCR 6.435.2
“Under [MCR 6.435(A)], a court may correct a clerical mistake on its own initiative at any time, including after a judgment has entered.” People v Comer, 500 Mich 278, 293 (2017). “MCR 6.435(A) does not require the trial court to give the defendant a hearing before correcting a clerical error, . . . [and] a defendant’s rights to due process do not require the trial court to give a defendant a hearing before correcting a clerical error under MCR 6.435(A).” People v Howell, 300 Mich App 638, 649-650 (2013).
“To determine the nature of a filing, [the Court] look[s] beyond the party’s labels and focus[es] on the substance of the filing.” People v Beard, 327 Mich App 702, 706 (2019). Where the beginning date of the sentence in the original judgment of sentence was ambiguous, the defendant “was not seeking to correct an invalid sentence imposed by the trial court but rather was attempting to enforce the imposed sentence,” and under these circumstances, the defendant’s motion was “best viewed as a motion to correct a mistake.” Id. at 706, 707 (rejecting the prosecution’s argument that the defendant’s motion should be construed as an untimely motion to correct an invalid sentence and holding that because it was a motion to correct a clerical mistake it could be brought at any time).
“If a dispute arises as to whether the record accurately reflects what occurred in the trial court, the court, after giving the parties the opportunity to be heard, must resolve the dispute and, if necessary, order the record to be corrected.” MCR 6.435(C).
“If a claim of appeal has been filed or leave to appeal granted in the case, corrections under [MCR 6.435] are subject to MCR 7.208(A)[3] and [MCR 7.208(B)4].” MCR 6.435(D).
1 MCR 6.435(B) provides that “[a]fter giving the parties an opportunity to be heard, and provided it has not yet entered judgment in the case, the court may reconsider and modify, correct, or rescind any order it concludes was erroneous.” “A substantive mistake is a conclusion or decision that is erroneous, because it is based on a mistaken belief in the facts or the applicable law.” People v Jones (Carlos Lorenzo), 203 Mich App 74, 80 (1993). “[T]he court’s ability to correct substantive mistakes under MCR 6.435(B) ends upon entry of the judgment.” People v Comer, 500 Mich 278, 294 (2017). Accordingly, further discussion of this topic is outside the scope of this volume of the benchbook.
2 “[A] staff comment to the Michigan Court Rules is not binding authority.” People v Williams (Carletus), 483 Mich 226, 238 n 15 (2009).
3 See Section 1.2 for more information on MCR 7.208(A).
4 See Section 1.3 for more information on MCR 7.208(B).