Sec. 8411. (1) Before the commencement of a trial in the small claims division, the district court judge or magistrate shall inform both parties, orally or in writing, of the right to removal before trial to the general civil division and of all rights waived if they choose to remain in the small claims division. (2) In hearings before the small claims division, witnesses shall be sworn. The judge shall conduct the trial in an informal manner so as to do substantial justice between the parties according to the rules of substantive law but shall not be bound by the statutory provisions or rules of practice, procedure, pleading, or evidence, except provisions relating to privileged communications, the sole object of such trials is to dispense expeditious justice between the parties. There shall be no jury nor shall a verbatim record of such proceedings be made.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.8411
Removal; waiver; hearings; manner of conducting; no jury or verbatim record
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case 179 Mich. App. 805 - Kerekes v. Bowlds (1989)
Most recently applied in 217 Mich. App. 219 - Schomaker v. Armour, Inc (July 1996)
Add. 1968, Act 154, Imd
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Michigan Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Michigan statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.