7 canonical passages across 5 cases, quoted by 85 opinions in total. These passages cluster together because the same opinions keep quoting them side by side — they state parts of one doctrine. The anchor passage is from Reed v. Reed.
| # | Case | Flag | Canonical passage | Citers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reed v. Reed Anchor | green | “under the 'american rule,' attorney fees are not recoverable as an element of costs or damages unless expressly allowed by statute, court rule, common-law exception, or contract.” | 25 |
| 2 | Richards v. Richards | green | “a finding is clearly erroneous if we are left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made.” | 15 |
| 3 | Richards v. Richards | green | “an abuse of discretion occurs when the result falls outside the range of principled outcomes.” | 14 |
| 4 | Smith v. Smith | green | “an abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court's decision falls outside the range of reasonable and principled outcomes.” | 10 |
| 5 | Richards v. Richards | green | “although marital property need not be divided equally, it must be divided equitably in light of a court's evaluation of the parties' contributions, faults and needs.” | 10 |
| 6 | Washington v. Washington | green | “the goal behind dividing marital property is to reach an equitable distribution in light of all the circumstances.” | 8 |
| 7 | Ewald v. Ewald | green | “the court shall order child support in an amount determined by application of the child support formula developed by the state friend of the court bureau as required in section 19 of the friend of the court act, mcl 552.519.” | 3 |
A red or yellow flag on a member means the underlying case has negative treatment — for those, check the case page before relying on the passage.