Terees Williams v. Jerviss-Fethke Insurance Agency, 330378

Plaintiff (Terees Williams) lost a negligence action and the trial court awarded defendant case evaluation sanctions of $14,041.70.
Plaintiff repeatedly failed to attend creditor’s examinations; defendant obtained a writ of garnishment against plaintiff’s wages.
Plaintiff filed multiple motions for installment payments; two earlier motions were denied after the court found she had transferred rental properties for no consideration.
On September 21, 2015, Judge Marietti (while Judge Hicks was absent) signed an order granting plaintiff’s third motion for installment payments; the clerk had been presented with the signed order.
Judge Hicks, who had presided over the case and intended to deny the motion, later vacated the September 21 order on October 2, 2015, concluding the grant was a mistake and inadvertent.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court erred in vacating the September 21, 2015 order granting installment payments	The grant was valid under MCR 3.104(B) because no timely objection was filed and the order was properly entered	The grant was a mistake/inadvertent error while the motion was still pending before Judge Hicks, so vacatur under MCR 2.612(C)(1)(a) was proper	Court affirmed vacatur: vacatur was proper under MCR 2.612(C)(1)(a) because the grant was a court mistake/inadvertence; no abuse of discretion

Fisher v Belcher, 269 Mich. App. 247 (appellate standard for review of relief-from-order decisions)
Ronnisch Constr. Group, Inc. v. Lofts on the Nine, LLC, 499 Mich. 544 (abuse of discretion standard defined)
Altman v Nelson, 197 Mich. App. 467 (recognizing that a "mistake" under MCR 2.612(C)(1)(a) can be a trial-court mistake)