Court Jurisdiction

In Moody v Get Well Medical Treatment, __ Mich App __ (#301783, 2/25/2014) the Court of Appeals held that Courts are bound to take notice of the limits of their authority, and a court may, and should, on its own motion, though the question is not raised by the pleadings or by counsel, recognize its lack of jurisdiction and act accordingly by staying proceedings, dismissing the action, or otherwise disposing thereof, at any stage of the proceeding. When a court is without jurisdiction of the subject matter, any action with respect to such a cause, other than to dismiss it, is void, and consequently its proceedings may be questioned collaterally as well as directly.

In Michigan the circuit court is the primary court having jurisdiction over civil cases.  MCL 600.605 provides: “Circuit courts have original jurisdiction to hear and determine all civil claims and remedies, except where exclusive jurisdiction is given in the constitution or by statute to some other court or where the circuit courts are denied jurisdiction by the constitution or statutes of this state.” MCL 600.8301(1) provides for an exception for bringing civil actions in district court “when the amount in controversy does not exceed $25,000.00.  

A court is continually obliged to question sua sponte its own jurisdiction over a person, the subject matter of an action, or the limits of the relief it may afford,  In this case, the district court should have either dismissed plaintiff’s case or transferred it to circuit court pursuant to MCR 2.227(A)(1), which provides:  When the court in which a civil action is pending determines that it lacks jurisdiction of the subject matter of the action, but that some other Michigan court would have jurisdiction of the action, the court may order the action transferred to the other court in a place where venue would be proper. If the question of jurisdiction is raised by the court on its own initiative, the action may not be transferred until the parties are given notice and an opportunity to be heard on the jurisdictional issue.