[nfbmi-talk] court of claims judgesnamed

[joe harcz Comcast]

Court of Claims judges named by Supreme Court By Paul Egan Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau The Michigan Supreme Court today named the four Michigan Court

of Appeals judges who will serve on the revamped Court of Claims, in an announcement that stressed their trial experience. Two of the judges selected were

appointed to the Court of Appeals by former Republican Gov. John Engler and two by former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Appeals Court Judges Pat Donofrio,

Amy Ronayne Krause, Deborah Servitto, and Michael Talbot will serve on the court that will hear lawsuits against the state, Chief Justice Robert Young,

Jr. said in a news release. The Supreme Court was unanimous in choosing the judges for "their outstanding legal ability, including their diverse experiences

as former trial judges managing trial dockets. One of the criticisms of the Court of Claims law, signed by Gov. Rick Snyder with immediate effect on Tuesday,

is that the Court of Appeals is not well equipped to serve as a trial court. Another criticism was that it replaced the Ingham County Circuit Court, which

leans Democratic, with a panel likely to be overtly Republican. But the Supreme Court chose judges appointed by governors of both political stripes. Donofrio,

a former Macomb County Circuit Court judge, was appointed to the Court of Appeals by Engler in 2002. Krause, who was a district court judge in Lansing,

was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2010 by Granholm. Servitto, a former Macomb County Circuit Court judge, was appointed to the Court of Appeals

in 2006 by Granholm. Talbot, a former Wayne County Circuit Court judge, was appointed to the Court of Appeals by Engler in 1998.