IN THE DISTRICT COURT - 12TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT

At a session of said Court, held in the City of Jackson, County of Jackson,

State of Michigan, this 2nd day of June 1999.

PRESENT: Honorable Charles Falahee, Jr., Chief Judge, 12th District Court
                    Honorable Chad Schmucker, Chief Judge, 4th Circuit Court

AUTHORITY FOR THIS ORDER: MCR 8.103(4)
EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ORDER: June 1, 1999
PREVIOUS LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS RELATED TO THIS ORDER: None
RATIONALE AND PURPOSE FOR THIS ORDER:

To assign to the circuit court family division all requests for peace bonds, MCL 772.1-772.15; MSA 28.1154-28.1168 which are often requested in situations of domestic violence or neighborhood disputes.  The circuit court has exclusive jurisdiction to issue PPOs, MCL 600.2950; MSA 27A.2950, MCL 600.295OA; MSA 27A.2950(l). In order to efficiently use the judicial resources 'in Jackson County, to avoid judge shopping, and to avoid duplicate requests for relief from district and circuit court, the same judge who handles the request for a PPO should handle the request for a peace bond. This order would authorize the circuit court judges to handle all requests for peace bonds and if a previous case had been filed between the parties requesting a PPO, then the case could be assigned to the same judge.

IT IS ORDERED that upon appropriate assignment by the State Court Administrative Office, the assigned judges of the 4th Circuit Court shall handle all peace bond requests normally cognizable in the 12th District Court. The 12th District Court Clerk's office shall obtain a random assignment of a family division judge from the county clerk's office unless a preexisting case exists between the parties, in which the case shall be assigned to the judge with the preexisting family division file.

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