“[A] trial court has inherent authority to impose sanctions on the basis of the misconduct of a party or an attorney.” Persichini v William Beaumont Hosp, 238 Mich App 626, 639 (1999). The trial court also has the inherent power “to control the movement of cases on its docket by a variety of sanctions.” Id. at 640 (quotation marks and citation omitted). In addition, MCL 600.611 provides circuit courts with the “‘jurisdiction and power to make any order proper to fully effectuate the circuit courts’ jurisdiction and judgments.’” Persichini, 238 Mich App at 640. A circuit court also “has inherent authority to impose sanctions on litigants appearing before it regardless of whether the court also rules it lacks jurisdiction over a complaint.” Meisner Law Group PC v Weston Downs Condo Ass’n, 321 Mich App 702, 731 (2017).
A motion for sanctions should be considered timely filed if, in the trial court’s discretion, “the motion was filed within a reasonable time after the prevailing party was determined.” In re Attorney Fees and Costs (Septer), 233 Mich App 694, 699 (1999).
A trial court may not delegate its sanction-imposing authority to its court clerks. Credit Acceptance Corp v 46th Dist Court, 481 Mich 883 (2008) (sanctions imposed under MCR 1.1091 must be properly ordered by a judge, and the court clerks’ communications to the plaintiff when returning the plaintiff’s writs for noncompliance with MCR 3.101(D) did not constitute proper court orders).
Types of sanctions include attorney fees, costs, and involuntary dismissal.2
1 Effective September 1, 2018, ADM File 2002-37 deleted MCR 2.114(E) that was discussed in the Credit Acceptance Corp decision and created MCR 1.109(E), which now incorporates the rule that allows the court to impose sanctions for filing documents with the court that have improper signatures. See MCR 1.109(E) for guidance on what constitutes a proper signature.
2 See Section 8.6 on attorney fees, Section 8.5 on costs, and Section 4.10(E) on involuntary dismissal.