Michigan Laws 445.437 – Private cause of action; damages; “value of the property stolen” defined; costs and attorney fees
Current as of: 2023 | Check for updates
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Terms Used In Michigan Laws 445.437
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Person: means an individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, joint venture, trust, association, or other legal entity. See Michigan Laws 445.423
- Scrap metal: means ferrous or nonferrous metal, or items that contain ferrous or nonferrous metal, that are sold or offered for sale for the value of the ferrous or nonferrous metal they contain rather than their original intended use; ferrous or nonferrous metal removed from or obtained by cutting, demolishing, or disassembling a building, structure, or manufactured item; or other metal that cannot be used for its original intended purpose but can be processed for reuse in a mill, foundry, die caster, or other manufacturing facility. See Michigan Laws 445.423
- Seller: means a person that either regularly, sporadically, or on a 1-time basis receives consideration from any other person from the purchase by a scrap metal dealer of scrap metal offered by that seller. See Michigan Laws 445.423
(1) A person may bring a private cause of action against a seller or a scrap metal dealer, in a court of competent jurisdiction, for monetary damages suffered from violation of this act.
(2) If the court in an action described in subsection (1) finds that the violation included the purchase or sale of stolen property and finds that the purchaser in an action against the purchaser, or the seller in an action against the seller, knew or should have known that the property was stolen, the court shall award treble damages for the value of the property stolen. As used in this subsection, “value of the property stolen” means the greatest of the following:
(a) The replacement cost of the stolen property.
(b) The cost of repairing the damage caused by the larceny of the property.
(c) The total of subdivisions (a) and (b).
(3) The court may award costs and reasonable attorney fees in an action brought under subsection (1).