Case of the Month

Ingham County Circuit Court Decision on the Statewide DataMaster Program:

On February 18, 2010, the Ingham County Circuit Court rendered an important decision relative to the use of the BAC Datamaster and the Michigan State Police's BAC Datamaster Training Manual. The civil lawsuit, entitled Sarah Belknap et al., v Peter Munoz, Director of the State Police, and the Department State Police, File No. 09-783-CZ, was originally filed on November 5, 2009 by attorney William Maze. The plaintiffs were 5 former criminal defendants in 5 different OWI cases who sought injunctive relief, declaratory relief, and a writ of mandamus against the Michigan State Police and MSP Director Peter Munoz.

Plaintiffs asked the court to order MSP and its Director to stop all alcohol breath testing in the state because the BAC DataMaster device that is currently utilized is not an approved device and has not been formally adopted under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Plaintiffs challenged the provisions in the MSP's Michigan Breath Test Operator Training Manual that prohibited the use of portable radio transmitters in the area designated for breath alcohol testing and claimed that the APA required the manual be promulgated. The Plaintiffs also claimed that the MSP violated the Open Meeting Act when it made changes to the training manual. The Attorney General's (AG) Office represented the MSP and its director.

The AG's Office filed a Motion for Summary Disposition requesting the Court dismiss the case. On February 18, 2010, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Paula Manderfield issued an opinion and order granting Defendant’s motion for summary disposition, and her order closed the case. In Judge Manderfield’s opinion and order, she stated “Plaintiff’s claims regarding the validity of the rules governing the use of the BAC Datamaster, as well as Plaintiffs’ claims regarding the issue of whether the BAC Datamaster machine itself was properly promulgated, are barred by the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel.