Police Brutality & Civil Rights
State Tort Claims — Assault & Battery
3 statutes with plain-language summaries, case relevance, source links, and related Michigan practice areas.
Statutory text checked against the Michigan Compiled Laws, complete through PA 16 of 2026, on June 12, 2026.
State Tort Claims — Assault & Battery
3 statutesMichigan civil assault and battery claims are common-law intentional torts. MCL 600.2917 is a shoplifting-detention statute, not a general civil assault statute; MCL 600.5805(3) supplies the usual 2-year period for actions charging assault, battery, or false imprisonment.Read Full Statute
Michigan civil assault and battery claims are common-law intentional torts, not a cause of action created by MCL 600.2917. State-law claims charging assault, battery, or false imprisonment generally use the 2-year limitations period in MCL 600.5805(3).
Threatening unlawful force can support civil assault, and harmful or offensive contact can support battery, but the pleading and deadline analysis should not rely on the shoplifting-detention statute.
We plead civil assault claims alongside battery and § 1983 claims in all applicable police misconduct cases, ensuring every instance of unlawful threatening conduct is captured in the complaint.
"An individual who uses deadly force or force other than deadly force in self-defense or in defense of another individual in compliance with section 2 of the self-defense act is immune from civil liability" for covered damages.Read Full Statute
MCL 600.2922b gives civil immunity to an individual who uses deadly force or non-deadly force in self-defense or defense of another in compliance with Michigan's Self-Defense Act.
This is not a loss-of-consortium statute. In police-misconduct cases, it may matter when a defendant argues that force was legally justified or when the facts involve civilian self-defense against unlawful force.
We test any self-defense immunity claim against the facts, the Self-Defense Act, and the limits that apply when law-enforcement conduct or unlawful entry is involved.
"The court shall award the payment of actual attorney fees and costs to an individual who is sued for civil damages" if the court determines the individual used force in compliance with the Self-Defense Act and is immune under section 2922b.Read Full Statute
MCL 600.2922c requires an award of actual attorney fees and costs when a person sued for using force is found to have complied with the Self-Defense Act and to be immune under MCL 600.2922b.
This is not an exemplary-damages statute. It is a fee-shifting rule tied to successful self-defense immunity.
We identify this issue when a defendant invokes Michigan self-defense immunity and make sure the case is litigated under the correct statute rather than a damages theory that does not exist.