4.4Revisiting a Judgment In Actions Involving Multiple Claims or Multiple Parties

MCR 2.604(A) allows courts to revise orders before entry of a final judgment in a case:

“Except as provided in [MCR 2.604(B), addressing receiverships and similar actions¹], an order or other form of decision adjudicating fewer than all the claims, or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties, does not terminate the action as to any of the claims or parties, and the order is subject to revision before entry of final judgment adjudicating all the claims and the rights and liabilities of all the parties. Such an order or other form of decision is not appealable as of right before entry of final judgment. A party may file an application for leave to appeal from such an order.”

“As a general matter, courts are permitted to revisit issues they previously decided, even if presented with a motion for reconsideration that offers nothing new to the court.” Bank of America, NA v Fidelity Nat’l Title Ins Co, 316 Mich App 480, 521 (2016) (quotation and citation omitted).² In Bank of America, NA, the trial court initially denied the defendant’s motion for summary disposition and ultimately revisited its decision after the defendant filed another motion for summary disposition raising the same issue. Id. The plaintiff challenged the trial court’s authority to alter its stance on the issue because it already denied the defendant’s first motion for summary disposition and motion for reconsideration. Id. The Court of Appeals, citing MCR 2.604(A), held that “although the trial court exhibited a lack of awareness that it had previously denied [the defendant’s] motion for reconsideration of the order denying [the defendant’s] first motion for summary disposition, the trial court nonetheless had authority to revisit its previous determination regarding the applicability of the full credit bid rule. A final judgment had not yet been entered, and [the defendant] had filed another motion for summary disposition again raising the issue . . . as permitted by [MCR 2.116(E)(3)].”³ Bank of America, NA, 316 Mich App at 522.