“Parties to the proceeding may waive disqualification even where it appears that there may be grounds for disqualification of the judge. Such waiver may occur whether the grounds for disqualification were raised by a party or by the judge, so long as the judge is willing to participate. Any agreement to waive the disqualification must be made by all parties to the litigation and shall be in writing or placed on the record.” MCR 2.003(E). If the judge is willing to participate in the proceedings and the parties waive disqualification, the court should enter a waiver of disqualification. See SCAO Form MC 272, Waiver of Disqualification.
In addition, “the failure to follow proper procedure in requesting disqualification constitutes a waiver[.]” Davis v Chatman, 292 Mich App 603, 615 (2011) (defendant “waived the issue of disqualification” when he “failed to submit an affidavit as required by MCR 2.003(D) when requesting the court’s disqualification”), citing Law Offices of Lawrence Stockler, PC v Rose, 174 Mich App 14, 22-23 (1989) (having failed to request that the chief judge review the trial judge’s denial to disqualify under MCR 2.003(D)(3)(a)(i),1 the plaintiff “waived any claim of disqualification”).
1 Formerly MCR 2.003(C)(3)(a).