Rule 3.806.Rehearings

MCR 3.806 gives an adoption case a second look. A party who believes the court got something wrong files a petition, everyone with an interest learns about it, and the judge decides whether to reopen. The rule fixes five things: who gives notice, how long an interested party has to respond, what standard governs the decision, what the court may do once it grants, and what happens to existing orders while the petition sits.

Filing and notice

Subrule (A) ties the petition to MCL 710.64(1) and asks two things of it: that it be timely filed and that it state the basis for rehearing. Notice is the petitioner's job. Immediately upon filing the petition, the petitioner must give all interested parties notice of its filing in accordance with MCR 3.802. Any interested party may then file a response within 7 days of the date of service of notice on that party. The clock is measured party by party, so parties served on different days answer on different days.

How the court decides

Subrule (B) offers three ways to reach a decision. The court must base the ruling on the record, on the pleading filed, or on a hearing on the petition. A hearing is one option among three, not a precondition. The substantive test is narrow: the court may grant a rehearing only for good cause. Either way the ruling goes, the reasons must be in writing or stated on the record.

After a rehearing is granted

Subrule (C) sets out what follows a grant. The court may, after notice, take new evidence on the record, so a rehearing is not confined to the papers already in the file. Its authority over the earlier ruling comes in three forms, and each may reach part of the decision rather than all of it:

• affirm the prior decision;
• modify it; or
• vacate it.

Here too the court must state the reasons for its action in writing or on the record. The rule asks for reasons twice — once for the decision whether to rehear, and again for whatever the court does on rehearing.

Holding the case in place

Subrule (D) covers the stretch between filing and ruling. Pending a ruling on the petition for rehearing, the court may stay any order, or enter another order in the best interest of the minor. The stay power reaches any order in the case. The alternative reaches further: the court is not limited to freezing things as they stand and may put a different order in place if the minor's interest calls for one.