Nicolette Muller v. Christian Muller

Order Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
March 8, 2006 Clifford W. Taylor,
Chief Justice
130041 Michael F. Cavanagh
Elizabeth A. Weaver
Marilyn Kelly
Maura D. Corrigan
NICOLETTE MULLER, Robert P. Young, Jr.
Plaintiff-Appellee, Stephen J. Markman,
Justices
v SC: 130041
COA: 259271
Oakland CC: 03-675204-DM
CHRISTIAN MULLER,
Defendant-Appellant.
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On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the October 27, 2005
judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is DENIED. The Oakland Circuit
Court entered an order in this case that “neither party shall have an unrelated member of
the opposite sex overnight while having parenting time with the minor children.”
Granted the authority to place “[r]estrictions on the presence of third parties during
parenting time” under MCL 722.27a(8)(c), the trial court based its decision on the “best
interests” of the children, giving particular emphasis to plaintiff’s (the mother’s) moral
objections to cohabitation, when defendant (the father) claimed that he personally held no
opinion on that concern. The trial court did not base its decision, in whole or in part, on
MCL 750.335, which prohibits “lewd or lascivious cohabitation.” Therefore, this case
does not implicate the constitutionality of MCL 750.335, but rather only raises the
question whether the trial court abused its discretion in restricting the presence of
unrelated members of the opposite sex during parenting time. Brown v Loveman, 260
Mich App 576, 591-592 (2004). The Court of Appeals found no abuse of discretion by
the trial court, and we affirm this determination.
KELLY, J., would remand this case to the trial court for further proceedings.
I, Corbin R. Davis, Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court, certify that the
foregoing is a true and complete copy of the order entered at the direction of the Court.
March 8, 2006 _________________________________________
s0301 Clerk