Soaring Pine Capital Real Estate v. Park Street Group Realty

Summary

The Michigan Supreme Court held that a usury-savings clause is ineffective when a loan agreement facially requires payment of a usurious interest rate, including through fees or charges, because enforcing the clause would undermine Michigan's usury protections. The Court also held that merely seeking to collect an unlawful interest rate in a civil lawsuit does not, standing alone, constitute criminal usury or support the wrongful-conduct rule. The decisions below were reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded for reconsideration, including whether the loan was subject to usury protections and whether any other criminal-usury conduct occurred.