On November 12, 2002, the Wayne County Criminal Defense Bar Association and the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan filed a lawsuit against the Chief Judges of Wayne County Circuit Court, in the Supreme Court of Michigan. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, sought declaratory and injunctive relief from alleged systemic violations of the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and Article 1, Section 20 of the Michigan Constitution. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants, judges tasked with establishing compensation for defenders of indigent felons, had implemented an unreasonable fee schedule that overworked court-appointed defense attorneys to the point of violating their statutory rights as well as the Constitutional rights of the indigent defendants.

Both parties filed several briefs on this matter, and on June 27, 2003, the Supreme Court of Michigan issued its opinion. The Court denied the plaintiffs' complaint, holding that they had not shown that the fee schedule provided unreasonable compensation to court-appointed counsel. In his concurrence, Chief Justice Corrigan noted that attorneys could apply for additional fees in exceptional cases, and that Michigan's public defender fee schedule was comparable to the national average. Wayne Co. Criminal Defense Bar Ass'n v. Chief Judges of Wayne Circuit Court 663 N.W.2d 471, 472 (Mich. 2003).

We have no further information on this case.

Nick Niles - 07/11/2007


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