CHERNOFF v. SINAI HOSPITAL OF GREATER DETROIT, 471 Mich. 910 (2004)

No. 121640.Supreme Court of Michigan.
October 29, 2004.

SC: 121640, COA: 228014.

Leave to Appeal Denied.

MARKMAN, J. (concurring). Plaintiff’s decedent died on September 29, 1995, and plaintiff was appointed personal representative of decedent’s estate on April 23, 1997. This appointment expired on June 18, 1998. Plaintiff then filed a notice of intent on April 16, 1999, and a complaint on September 17, 1999. After defendant filed a motion for summary disposition, the probate court reappointed plaintiff as the personal representative nunc pro tunc. The trial court denied defendant’s motion for summary disposition. The Court of Appeals affirmed, concluding that under the common-law relation-back doctrine, the probate court’s order related back to the date of the filing of the complaint.[1]

MCL 700.3701 states that “[a] personal representative’s powers relate back in time to give acts by the person appointed that are beneficial to the estate occurring before appointment the same effect as those occurring after appointment.” Accordingly, plaintiff’s appointment as personal representative relates back to her filing the notice of intent[2] However, this results not on the basis of the common-law relation-back doctrine,

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but on the basis of MCL 700.3701. Therefore, I concur in this Court’s decision to deny defendant’s application for leave to appeal.