In Mitan v Farmington Square Condominium Association, an unpublished Michigan Court of Appeals opinion, the plaintiff, a suspended attorney and the personal representative of his father’s estate which owned a condominium unit, filed suit against a condominium association, its management company, and the association’s attorney. The association counterclaimed for foreclosure of its lien for unpaid assessments. The association moved for summary disposition of the complaint and counterclaim, which the trial court granted. the plaintiff appealed.
On appeal, the court held that the complaint was properly dismissed because plaintiff could not demonstrate that alleged assignments of claim to him were valid. However, the judgment of foreclosure of the association’s lien was reversed, because in defending the estate the plaintiff/suspended attorney was engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. The case was remanded to the trial court with instructions to pick up at the filing of the counterclaim; if the estate did not defend by a retained attorney, the trial court was instructed to proceed as in a default.