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Apsey v. Memorial Hospital6/9/2005
se should be read to harmonize with each other in furtherance of that purpose. Jennings v Southwood, 446 Mich 125, 136-137; 521 NW2d 230 (1994); Antrim Co Treasurer v Dep't of Treasury, 263 Mich App 474, 481; 688 NW2d 840 (2004). If two statutes lend themselves to a construction which avoids conflict, that construction should control. House Speaker v State Administrative Bd, 441 Mich 547, 568-569; 495 NW2d 539 (1993); Travelers Ins v U-Haul of Michigan, Inc, 235 Mich App 273, 280; 597 NW2d 235 (1999). "Where a specific statutory provision differs from a related general one, the specific one controls." Antrim, supra at 484, citing Gebhardt v O'Rourke, 444 Mich 535, 542-543; 510 NW2d 900 (1994).
The two statutes can be harmonized. The URAA provides in pertinent part, "Nothing in this act diminishes or invalidates the recognition accorded to notarial acts by other laws of this state." MCL 565.268. The Legislature is charged with knowledge of existing laws on the same subject and is presumed to have considered the effect of new laws on all existing laws. Walen v Dep't of Corrections, 443 Mich 240, 248; 505 NW2d 519 (1993); Kalamazoo v KTS Industries, Inc, 263 Mich App 23, 34; 687 NW2d 319 (2004). MCL 600.2102 is a law of this state that requires more specific recognition requirements for notarial acts authenticating an affidavit of a person residing in another state that is received in judicial proceedings; i.e., it requires that the signature of a notary public on an affidavit taken out of state "be certified by the clerk of any court of record in the county where such affidavit shall be taken, under seal of said court." As such, the URAA, enacted after MCL 600.2102, does not diminish or invalidate the more specific and more formal requirements of MCL 600.2102. Furthermore, this harmonious application of the URAA and MCL 600.2102 avoids conflict. See House Speaker, supra at 568-569; Travelers Ins, supra at 280.
For these reasons, we find that the more specific requirements of MCL 600.2102 of the Revised Judicature Act control over the general requirements of MCL 565.262 of the URAA. See Antrim, supra at 484, citing Gebhardt, supra at 542-543. In other words, MCL 565.262 governs notarial acts, including the execution of affidavits, in general, to which MCL 600.2102 adds a special certification requirement when the affidavit is to be read, meaning officially received and considered, by the judiciary. This special certification requirement of MCL 600.2102 is not diminished or invalidated by the subsequently enacted URAA. See MCL 565.268. Instead, MCL 565.268 allows for the statutes to be harmonized. As such, the special certification is a necessary part of an affidavit submitted to the court to meet the requirement of MCL 600.2912d(1).
Next, we must address the affect of plaintiff's failure to properly authenticate the affidavit of merit, which technically rendered the affidavit of merit defective. In Scarsella, the Supreme Court was faced with a complete failure to file an affidavit of merit. The Court left for later decisional development the question of the appropriate legal response when a "timely filed affidavit is inadequate or defective." Scarsella, supra at 553. Such decisional development from this Court indicates that, "whether the adjective used is 'defective' or 'grossly nonconforming' or 'inadequate,'" where a plaintiff 's affidavit failed to meet the applicable statutory standards, it "was defective and did not constitute an effective affidavit," and therefore failed to support a medical malpractice complaint for purposes of tolling the period of limitations. Geralds v Munson Healthcare, 259 Mich App 225, 240; 673 NW2d 792 (2003). See also VandenBerg v VandenBerg, 253 Mich App 6
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