Honorable Diane M. Druzinski

Judge Diane M Druzinski graduated from Oakland University Summa Cum Laude and received her Juris Doctorate, Magna Cum Laude, from University of Detroit Mercy in 1994.  Judge Druzinski was elected to the Circuit Bench in 2002 and has been serving in the Civil/Criminal Division since then. Judge Druzinski is currently Chair of Community Corrections Advisory Board.

Contact information

Macomb County Court Building

40 N. Main St., 2nd Floor

Mount Clemens, MI 48043

Staff

Scheduling days and times

Judge Diane Druzinski’s courtroom is now open to the public.

Civil cases

Motions - Monday at 8:30. Motions will be decided on the briefs pursuant to MCR 2.119(E). The Court will prepare an Order and e-serve the parties no later than the Tuesday following the scheduled motion.  Some motions will be held in open court or on Zoom.  If a motion is to be heard on the record, all parties will receive a Zoom invite through TrueFiling (all parties registered in MiFile) no later than the Thursday prior.  If no Zoom invite is received, the court is ruling on the briefs, no appearance is necessary, and the parties will receive a ruling by TrueFiling.

EDSC, Status/Settlement Conferences – Wednesday and Thursday morning at 8:00 am.  Unless notified otherwise, the conferences will be held by telephone and the Court will initiate the calls.

Oral arguments on appeals - Monday at 8:30 A.M.

Secretary of State Appeals - Monday at 8:30 A.M.

Trials - Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Criminal cases

Effective July 26, 2021 all criminal matters (motions, arraignments, pre trials, sentencings, probation violations, show causes, trials, evidentiary hearings) will be heard in person.  All counsel and defendants must appear in person.

Pre-Trials - Monday and Wednesday at 8:30 A.M.

Sentencing/Probation Violation/Show Cause/Review Hearings - Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30 A.M.

Evidentiary Hearings - Friday at 8:30 A.M.

Policies and procedures

Adjournments

Adjournment requests of scheduled events are routinely handled by the Judge's judicial secretary.  A stipulation and order with the new date, signed by all counsel must be filed after approval of the adjournment.

Adjournment requests for motions are handled by the clerk.

Adjournment of trials must be brought by motion, with all counsel appearing, as a new trial date will be provided if the request is granted.

Alternate services

Requests for alternate service must be accompanied by a verified motion, proposed order, an affidavit of the process server showing reasonable efforts to make service of process, and a postal verification.

Appeals

No stipulation for extension of time to file briefs on appeal will be accepted.  The party seeking the extension must file a motion.

Facilitation/mediation

Facilitation in lieu of case evaluation per MCR 2.403 - Counsel shall prepare a stipulated order naming the facilitator, date and time of facilitation and a Settlement Conference date, which can be obtained from Judge Druzinski's secretary.

The Court strongly encourages all forms of Alternate Dispute resolution during the pendency of litigation and is specifically authorized by local court rule to order parties into facilitation.  

Motions

All motions are heard on Monday at 8:30 A.M.

Judge Druzinski requires one courtesy copy of any motion and brief and all accompanying exhibits, as well as responses and replies, be submitted directly to the judge's chamber in paper format. 

Any exhibits must be appropriately tabbed.  Good practice requires that in appropriate cases, relevant portions of lengthy documents be highlighted. 

Judge's copies of responses to motions will not be accepted after 8:30 A.M. the Friday preceding the motion hearing.

Following the Court's ruling on a motion, the parties shall prepare and submit an order immediately through MiFile.

Scheduling orders

The Court will generally issue a standard Discovery and Case Evaluation Order setting the schedule for discovery, witness lists, dispositive motions and case evaluation.

For the first adjournment request, the Judge will permit a 60-day extension of the dates set forth in the Discovery and Case Evaluation Order by stipulation of the parties.  The parties must then submit the stipulated order with new dates.

Any subsequent requests to extend the scheduling order dates must be made by motion and will only be granted upon a showing of good cause.

If a Case Evaluation date is within 2 weeks, the order must indicate which party is paying the $150 adjournment fee.

Settlement conferences

Counsel, parties and persons with settlement authority are ordered to attend the settlement conference unless their attendance has been excused by the court.

If a matter is resolved and an Order of Dismissal is entered before the conference date, the attorneys and parties need not appear for the conference.

Trial procedures

Trial dates are scheduled by the Judge at Settlement Conference.

The Court's Trial Procedure Order can be found here.