Taniesha Clark-Rose v. MGM Grand Detroit, LLC

Summary

The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed summary disposition for MGM Grand Detroit, LLC, holding that MGM supported its motion with substantively admissible evidence. The court concluded that MGM’s investigative records and Zeal Credit Union personnel records were admissible under the business-records exception or could be considered based on their substance at the summary-disposition stage.

Holdings

1. The investigative records were not hearsay to the extent MGM relied on them to show that an investigation occurred, including that witnesses were interviewed and surveillance footage was reviewed, rather than to prove the truth of the statements contained in the records.
2. MGM's investigation records were admissible under MRE 803(6) because they were generated shortly after Clark-Rose's complaints, kept in the course of MGM's investigation of employee complaints, and maintained as a regular practice; Clark-Rose did not challenge their trustworthiness.
3. Evidence submitted at the summary-disposition stage must be substantively admissible, but it need not be presented in admissible trial form when the substance could be admitted through a witness's testimony at trial.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court properly considered MGM's investigative records and other documentary exhibits when deciding MGM's motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(10).
2. Whether the investigative records were inadmissible hearsay or were admissible because they were not offered for the truth of the matters asserted and alternatively qualified under the business-records exception.
3. Whether documentary evidence supporting a motion for summary disposition must be in admissible trial form, or instead need only be substantively admissible.

Disposition

affirmed