Michigan Appellate Digest - Search Tips

The Michigan Appellate Digest search page allows for easy retrieval of Michigan Supreme Court and Michigan Court of Appeals opinion issue summaries. There are six search methods: Major Topics List, Subtopic Search, "Statute", Date Range, Case Name, and Docket Number.

The Digest covers published Michigan Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions released since January 1992. Some opinions which were released in 1991 but published in 1992 are included in the on-line Digest. Unpublished opinions are not included in the Digest.

Every opinion synopsis in the Digest has one or more issue summaries. Each issue summary is indexed by subject in the Digest's major topic and subtopics system.

Major Topics List

Use the Major Topics search method to search by Digest major topic and subtopics. This search method does not allow the search to be limited by dates. Major Topics allows you to view a list of all major Digest topics and then page through the list of corresponding subtopics. Links to the issue summaries are included here. If you are having difficulty locating a subject, the Subtopics Search might be more efficient.

Click the Major Topics link to view the list of all major Digest topics.
Single click the name of the major topic. The list of corresponding subtopics will display.
Click the Ø right pointing arrow to the left of the subtopic you wish to view. A list of cases related to this subtopic will expand.

OR

Click the Expand All link to view all case links for all of the subtopics listed. If desired, use the Collapse All to display only the list of subtopics and hide the case links.
To view the Digest issue summary for a particular case, point to the case name link and single click. The Digest issue summary will open in a second window.

Use the Page number links at the top and bottom of the subtopic list page to view additional subtopics for that major topic. Use the Major Topics link at the top and bottom of the subtopic page to return to the list of major Digest topics. For instructions on how to search the issue summary for a specific word or phrase, click here.

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Subtopic Search

Use the Subtopic Search method to search the Digest subtopics for a specified word or phrase.

Click the Subtopic Search link.
Enter the search term in the Search subtopic field for box. For Subtopic Search hints, click here.
Optional: Select a Date Range from the drop down box. By default, the date range is set to All Dates. From the Date Range drop down box, choose from All Dates, Last Week, This Week, Last Month, This Month and Select Range. For Date Range Hints, click here.
Click the Search button to begin the search.
Use the New Search button to clear out the search criteria, allowing new search criteria to be entered.

Once the search is complete, the resulting list of cases and Digest issue summary links will be displayed alphabetically by major topics and subtopics. Within each subtopic, cases are listed in descending release date order. Scroll through the list of matching cases using the <<Prev and Next>> links, located at the top and bottom of the search results page. To open an issue summary, single click on the desired Summary link. The issue summary will open in a separate window. For instructions on how to search the issue summary for a specific word or phrase, click here.

Searching Hints - Subtopic Search

Subtopic searches will be most effective if they are limited to one word or the root of a word. For example, if you are looking for a case that discusses the precedential effect of unpublished decisions, rather than typing precedential effect or even precedential, type precedent. This will find the entries whether the subtopics are precedential effect or precedent - effect.

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"Statute"

Use the "Statute" search method to locate cases by the court rule, jury instruction, statute, treaty, etc.

Click the "Statute" link.
Enter the court rule, jury instruction, ordinance, citation, statute, treaty, etc. in the Search for court rule, jury instruction, ordinance, statute, treaty, etc. containing box. For "Statute" searching hints, click here.
Optional: Select a Date Range from the drop down box. By default, the date range is set to All Dates. From the Date Range drop down box, choose from All Dates, Last Week, This Week, Last Month, This Month and Select Range. For Date Range Hints, click here.
Click the Search button to begin the search.
Use the New Search button to clear out the search criteria, allowing new search criteria to be entered.

Once the search is complete, the resulting list of cases and Digest issue summary links will be displayed chronologically under each matching "statute" citation. Within one citation, the listing is in descending release date order. Scroll through the list of matching cases using the <<Prev and Next>> links, located at the top and bottom of the search results page. To open an issue summary, single click on the desired Summary link. The issue summary will open in a separate window. For instructions on how to search the issue summary for a specific word or phrase, click here.

Searching Hints - "Statute"

Whenever you see the word "statute" in using this search method, think of it as being short for "statutes, constitutions, court rules and miscellaneous citations". If you are looking for cases dealing with a specific statute, court rule, etc. this Digest search method allows you to search by the citation. This covers many types of citations, much more than just statutes. For example, all the citations in the following list are in this index, sample citations are listed to the right:

Citation	Example
Michigan Constitution	Const 1963, Art 1 Sec 3
United States Constitution	US Const, Art 1 Sec 6 US Const, Am 8
Michigan Compiled Laws	MCL 750.535 MCL 750.520b(1)(b)(ii)
United States Code	42 USC 2000bb
Michigan Court Rules	MCR 2.116(C)(5)
Michigan Rules of Evidence	MRE 701
Code of Federal Regulations	21 CFR 808.1
Criminal Jury Instructions 2d	CJI2d 15.5
City Codes and Ordinances	Ferndale Ordinance 832
MDOC Policy Directives	PD-BCF-64.01
Sentencing Guidelines	OV 3
Michigan Administrative Code	R 281.811
Restatements	2 Restatement Torts 400

"Statute" searches are not case-sensitive.

You only need to enter as much of the citation as will bring you the results you expect, without bringing you an overwhelming number of results. For example, if you were looking for a case that involves MCL 750.520c(1)(a) you could simply type 750.520c. For citations that have only three numbers such as MRE, include the three letter abbreviation in addition to the number.

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Date Range

Use the Date Range search method to locate cases released within a date range you specify.

Click the Date Range link.
Select a Date Range from the drop down box. By default, the date range is set to All Dates. From the Date Range drop down box, choose from All Dates, Last Week, This Week, Last Month, This Month and Select Range. For Date Range Hints, click here.
Select either Release Date or Digest Topic for sorting. By default, the results will be sorted by Release Date.
Click the Search button to begin the search.
Use the New Search button to clear out the search criteria, allowing new search criteria to be entered.

Once the search is complete, the resulting list of cases and Digest issue summary links will be displayed in the order selected. Scroll through the list of matching cases using the <<Prev and Next>> links, located at the top and bottom of the search results page. To open an issue summary, single click on the desired Summary link. The issue summary will open in a separate window. For instructions on how to search the issue summary for a specific word or phrase, click here.

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Case Name

Use the Case Name search method to locate the Court opinions by case name or part of the name.

Click the Case Name link.
Enter the case name or part of the name in the Search for case name containing box. For Case Name searching hints, click here.
Optional: Select a Date Range from the drop down box. By default, the date range is set to All Dates. From the Date Range drop down box, choose from All Dates, Last Week, This Week, Last Month, This Month and Select Range. For Date Range Hints, click here.
Click the Search button to begin the search.
Use the New Search button to clear out the search criteria, allowing new search criteria to be entered.

Once the search is complete, the resulting list of cases and Digest issue summary links will be displayed in descending release date order. Scroll through the list of matching cases using the <<Prev and Next>> links, located at the top and bottom of the search results page. To open an issue summary, single click on the desired Summary link. The issue summary will open in a separate window. For instructions on how to search the issue summary for a specific word or phrase, click here.

Searching Hints - Case Name

Case Name search is not case-sensitive.
A minimum of four characters is required.
Case Name searches within the case title as it has been entered in the Digest database.
It is most efficient to limit the search to one party's name, if that name is uncommon enough to produce a reasonably short result list.
Case Name will search for letters internal to the case title. Thus if you were not sure whether the name was spelled McCain or MacCain, you could type in Cain. Likewise, if you are not sure if a name ends in son or sen, type the name up to the last two letters, for example, Jacobs, and both versions of the name will be listed.
If the plaintiff's name is something common like Brown, and the defendant's name is also common, type the search with the full case name, for example, Brown v Smith.
If a party, included in the case title, is a non-person, you need only type one word from the name, if it is reasonably uncommon. For example, to find information for a case involving American Bumper & Mfg Co. typing Bumper would be an efficient search, but typing just American might turn up too many cases.
If a criminal defendant's name is common, for example Perry, you can search for People v Perry.

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Docket Number

Use the Docket Number search method to locate a case by the docket number.

Click the Docket Number link.
Enter the docket number you are looking for in the Search for docket number box.
Optional: Select a Date Range from the drop down box. By default, the date range is set to All Dates. From the Date Range drop down box, choose from All Dates, Last Week, This Week, Last Month, This Month and Select Range. For Date Range Hints, click here.
Click the Search button to begin the search.
Use the New Search button to clear out the search criteria, allowing new search criteria to be entered.

Once the search is complete, the case name, release date and Digest issue summary links display. To open an issue summary, single click on the desired Summary link. The issue summary will open in a separate window. For instructions on how to search the issue summary for a specific word or phrase, click here.

Go to Docket Number search Return to Top

Other Tips

Date Range Hints

The default start date on the search pages is October 1, 1991, because there are some cases which were released in 1991 but published in 1992. The date range deals with release dates, not publication dates.
When a specific date range category is selected, the corresponding dates are automatically inserted into the date boxes.
When Select Range is chosen, the date boxes are cleared and you can manually input any range of dates.
When entering a date, always enter in this format: mm/dd/yyyy. (ie: 02/07/1998)

Search the issue summary for a specific word or phrase

Once the Digest issue summary is opened, use the Find feature to locate a specific word or phrase.

Click in the issue summary text.
Press Ctrl + F on your keyboard.

OR

Choose the Edit menu and the Find on this Page
Enter the key word or phrase.
Click Find Next.

OR

Press the Enter key on your keyboard.
Continue searching the page for additional occurrences of that word or phrase by pressing Find Next.

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