Appellate jurisdiction; MCR 7.202(6)(a)(i) & 7.203(A)(1); Effect of dismissal without prejudice & arbitration agreement; Rooyakker & Sitz v Plante & Moran; The Uniform Arbitration Act (UAA); MCL 691.1687 & 691.1708

The court held that it lacked jurisdiction because the stipulated dismissal entered below was not a final order and did not adjudicate the remaining claims, requiring dismissal of the appeal and remand for the trial court to stay proceedings pending arbitration. Plaintiff purchased defendants’ concrete-step business assets through a bankruptcy sale, leading to years of litigation, including counterclaims and competing summary-disposition motions. The trial court dismissed the counterclaims and the parties then executed an arbitration agreement requiring dismissal without prejudice and expressly allowing the case to be reopened to enter an arbitration award. The trial court entered the stipulated order as drafted and labeled it “final,” and defendants appealed. On appeal, the court found that the trial court’s disposition left all remaining claims unresolved on the merits and allowed the case to be revived, so it was not a final order disposing of all rights and liabilities. The order “did not ‘resolve the merits’ of the remaining claims” and the parties “‘cannot create a final order by stipulating the dismissal of remaining claims without prejudice’” after entry of an order denying summary disposition addressing only some claims. An order containing language “that it was final, resolved all pending claims, and closed the case . . . ‘does not control this Court’s jurisdiction.’” The court further explained that the UAA lists the only arbitration-related orders appealable by right and that the order here is “[n]oticeably absent from” that list. The court also emphasized that the trial court retained jurisdiction because the order permitted the case to be reopened to enforce the arbitration award. The court held that the appropriate action on remand is to enter an order staying the proceedings under MCL 691.1687(7) and MCR 3.602(C) and dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.