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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS


CAROL JODIS and JAN JODIS,1 as Next Friend of MIKAYLA GRANGER, a Minor, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v MICHELLE BRUBAKER, SUE FOWLE, MARY STUART, DAVE BABCOCK, NURSE A. VAN CAMP, DR. DEBRA LUSTY, DR. ALFRED BEDIAKO, DR. VERONICA DULA, and HILLSDALE COUNTY COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER, Defendants-Appellees, and ELIZABETH WARNER and PHILLIP BERKEMEIER, Appellants.2

UNPUBLISHED January 31, 2008

No. 271649 Hillsdale Circuit Court LC No. 05-000677-NO

Before: Davis, P.J., and Murphy and White, JJ. PER CURIAM. Plaintiffs appeal as of right orders granting summary disposition to defendants, denying plaintiffs' motions for voluntary dismissal, imposing sanctions on plaintiffs and plaintiffs' trial counsel, and denying motions to disqualify the trial judge. Plaintiffs' trial counsel also appeal as

1

Jan Jodis is Mikayla's maternal grandfather. Mikayla's biological father relinquished his parental rights and is not a party to the instant action.

Warner and Berkemeier are the attorneys who represented plaintiffs in the trial court. They are appellants in this case only from the portion of the trial court's order imposing sanctions on them. We use the term "plaintiffs" to refer only to Carol and to Mikayla through Jan.

2

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of right the order imposing sanctions. We reverse the imposition of sanctions, and in all other respects we affirm. Plaintiffs commenced this case on the basis of defendants' actions after Carol went to the Hillsdale County Community Health Center ("the hospital") on October 3, 2003, to give birth to Mikayla. Carol admitted to having used drugs the previous week. Drug tests performed on Carol and Mikayla revealed marijuana and methamphetamine in both of their systems. Defendants then refused to discharge Mikayla the next day, and they shared drug-test results with Hillsdale County Child Protective Services ("CPS"). Mikayla was formally removed from Carol's custody and placed with the Family Independence Agency by an order entered October 7, 2003. Carol was ordered by the family court to comply with the Family Independence Agency's requests for further drug testing. On May 13, 2004, an order was entered terminating Mikayla's father's parental rights. By September 9, 2004, the Family Independence Agency had filed a petition to terminate Carol's parental rights, but she could not be located. That same month, Carol apparently went to a hospital in Jackson County under an assumed name and gave birth to another child, who was born with cocaine in its system. Plaintiffs' complaint indicates that Mikayla was returned to Carol in June 2005. Plaintiffs filed a ten-count complaint alleging assault and battery for involuntary drug testing, false imprisonment for refusing to discharge Mikayla, breach of fiduciary duty for disclosing the results of the drug testing, and gross negligence and civil rights violations under 42 USC

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