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Polony v. City of Sterling Heights2/20/2001
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Defendant officers testified at deposition that plaintiff made no such requests to them. The booking report states that plaintiff's husband posted a $100 bond at 5:00 p.m. that day.
On March 14, 1996, plaintiff pleaded guilty of the reduced charge of careless driving, a civil infraction. Plaintiff subsequently filed the instant civil suit, alleging unlawful arrest and detention, assault and battery, violation of constitutional rights, refusal to provide medical assistance; and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Defendants in the instant case filed motions for summary disposition arguing, inter alia, that plaintiff 's claims were barred by a release she had signed as part of the plea bargain.
The release at issue is contained in a standardized form used by the Sterling Heights City Attorney's office, entitled "Motion to Approve Plea Agreement." The form states that plaintiff would plead guilty to an amended charge of careless driving in exchange for the dismissal of the OUIL charge, and that the reasons for the motion were that the totality of the circumstances warranted a lesser offense, and there were " videntiary problems in meeting burden of proof."
There is no dispute that plaintiff and plaintiff's attorney signed this form, as well as the City Attorney. The form is dated February 7, 1996, although plaintiff's criminal defense attorney testified at deposition that he and plaintiff signed the form the day the plea was placed on the record. The release, set forth at paragraph nine of the standardized "Motion to Approve Plea Agreement" form and initialed by plaintiff, stated:
RELEASE: DEFENDANT AGREES, AS A CONDITION OF THIS PLEA AGREEMENT, TO RELEASE THE CITY, ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS FROM ANY CLAIMS, DAMAGES OR CAUSES OF ACTION OF ANY KIND BECAUSE OF ALLEGED INJURIES OR OTHER DAMAGES SUFFERED BY DEFENDANT THAT MAY ARISE FROM THE INCIDENT WHICH GAVE RISE TO THIS CSAE OR FROM PROSECUTION OF THIS CASE. ____ Initials.
The form stated at paragraph eleven " y executing this Agreement, Defendant and/or Defendant's attorney, approve this Agreement in form and substance and waive any irregularities relating to these proceedings."
At the bottom of the form, below the signature lines containing plaintiff's, her counsel's and the city attorney's signatures, is a section entitled "Order Approving Plea Agreement" that states "IT IS ORDERED that the above Plea Agreement be approved in accordance with the above terms and any Order of Deferred Sentence or Probation Order entered by the Court relating to this case." A signature line for the District Judge is provided and is blank.
Applying Stamps v City of Taylor, 218 Mich App 626; 554 NW2d 603 (1996), the circuit court granted defendants summary disposition, concluding that plaintiff entered into the plea agreement voluntarily, and that the release therefore barred her civil suit. The circuit court did not address the remainder of defendants' arguments addressing governmental immunity and failure to state a claim.
I.
Plaintiff argues that the circuit court erred by ruling that she agreed to release defendants as part of the plea agreement where the release was not incorporated into or acknowledged on the record. Plaintiff argues that MCR 6.610(E)(5) requires that the plea agreement be part of the record and that the court determine that the parties agreed to all the terms of the agreement. She also argues that courts speak through their orders, and that the form containing the release was not signed by the trial court.
We review the circuit court's ruling on a motion for summary disposition de novo. I
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