icon on Royal Oak, MI – August 1, 2024 – Michael Fawaz of business law firm Howard & Howard won an appeal at the Michigan Court of Appeals from an Order of the Michigan Tax Tribunal (MTT) on behalf of a West Michigan-based powerplant company.
The initial appeal was filed with the MTT regarding a property tax. During discovery, the MTT ruled that it would not enter a protective order to safeguard confidential documents because the MTT was subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Thus, the MTT reasoned that unless submitted evidence rose to the level of a trade secret exempt from FOIA disclosure, any confidential information submitted to the MTT would not be protected from public disclosure.
On behalf of the client, Fawaz sought leave to appeal to the Michigan Court of Appeals, which was granted. Thereafter, Fawaz prepared multiple briefs and presented oral argument to a panel at the Michigan Court of Appeals, which unanimously decided in the client’s favor and agreed the MTT had misunderstood and misapplied prior appellate precedent on the protection of confidential information submitted to the MTT as part of a tax appeal. The Court of Appeals made clear the MTT can protect confidential information under the Michigan Court Rules or if that information is exempt under FOIA. In other words, information need not be a trade secret to receive protection from public disclosure when submitted as part of a tax appeal to the MTT.
“All trade secrets are confidential, but not all confidential information is necessarily a trade secret,” Fawaz said. “Our goal is to ensure that taxpayers challenging their tax assessments before the MTT have confidence that they can set forth their best evidence without worrying that their confidential business information may be publicly disclosed. The Michigan Court of Appeals decision goes a long way in achieving that goal.”
The decision to protect confidential information has significant implications for practitioners and taxpayers in the State of Michigan. It inserts common sense back into this quasi-administrative process and provides taxpayers with further protection when asserting their statutory and constitutional rights before the MTT.
Fawaz filed a letter with the Michigan Court of Appeals panel to publish the decision, which published today, August 1. Now that the decision has been published, the MTT should be applying the court rule to protect confidential information on all present and future cases before it.
About Howard & Howard Attorneys, PLLC
With a history spanning over 150 years, Howard & Howard is a full-service law firm with a national and international practice, providing legal services to businesses and business owners. More than 130 attorneys practice out of offices in Las Vegas, NV; Detroit, MI; Chicago and Peoria, IL; and Los Angeles, CA. For more information, please visit www.howardandhoward.com.
Kady Volmering
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248-723-0331
kvolmering@howardandhoward.com