Hall v. Hanson, Docket No. 222800
| Decision Date | 18 April 2003 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 222800,Docket No. 222803. |
| Citation | 664 N.W.2d 796,255 Mich App 271 |
| Parties | Thomas J. HALL, Plaintiff-Appellee, and Sharon A. Hall, Gloria Rogers Zerbes, Terry L. Sancartier, Pearl Tucker, Robert Whall, Jr., James Whall, James W. Elliott, Judith Elliott, Thomas Hall, Shirley A. Hall, Val Jones, Ken Jones, Nancy Kirby, Anthony Thomson, James E. Harland, Bridget Harland, Mark Millikin, Peter Kocefas, Donald Carl, Donna Carl, Theodore D. Schmidt, Rosemary Schmidt, Marshall Damoth, Gladys Damoth, Ralph Allman, Irene Allman, Shawn M. Kraycs, Eddie Coe, Larry Pratt, Barb Hanss Koerner, Douglas E. Hinkle, Gordon Moore, Susan Moore, Jane Trenary, Darrel Metzer, Annette Metzer, Kathleen Prause, Leane Tingstad, Kevin Tingstad, James C. Drudge, Belinda Drudge, Terri Goddard, Alan Scott Hubbard, Richard Peffley, Sherri Peffley, Daniel A. Peterson, Gerald K. Hall, James A. Hatfield, Nancy L. Hatfield, Jeffery A. Prause, Pam Prause, Dale E. Rohde, Marie Rohde, Jean A. Reed, Billy R. Reed, Kevin Sloam, Tammy Trullard, Robert Whall, Ann Whall, Richard A. Benfield, Virginia Benfield, Kathryn Henry, Henry Ford, Monte Ream, Susan Ream, Larry Leclair, Geraldine Leclair, Michael Young, Jennie Pratt, Joane Kraycs, Doria McClain, James A. Wash, Rebecca Wash, Steven Kirby, Deanna Kirby, Craig Delvin, and Shelly Hubbard, Plaintiffs/Counterdefendants-Appellees, v. David B. HANSON, Sherry M. Hanson, Jeffrey J. Jerome, and Lauri O. Jerome, Defendants/Counterplaintiffs-Appellees, and Department of Commerce, Defendant/Counterdefendant-Appellant, and Department of Natural Resources, Third-Party Defendant/Counterdefendant-Appellant, and Township of Grayling, Intervening Defendant/Counterdefendant-Appellee. Thomas J. Hall, Sharon A. Hall, Gloria Rogers Zerbes, Terry L. Sancartier, Pearl Tucker, Robert Whall, James Whall, James W. Elliott, Judith Elliott, Thomas Hall, Shirley A. Hall, Val Jones, Ken Jones, Nancy Kirby, Anthony Thomson, James E. Harland, Bridget Harland, Mark Millikin, Peter Kocefas, Donald Carl, Donna Carl, Theodore D. Schmidt, Rosemary Schmidt, Marshall Damoth, Gladys Damoth, Ralph Allman, Irene Allman, Shawn M. Krayc, Eddie Coe, Larry Pratt, Barb Hanss Koerner, Douglas E. Hinkle, Gordon Moore, Susan Moore, Jane Trenary, Darrel Metzer, Annette Metzer, Kathleen Prause, Leane Tingstad, Kevin Tingstad, James C. Drudge, Belinda Drudge, Terri Goddard, Alan Scott Hubbard, Shelly Hubbard, Richard Peffley, Sherri Peffley, Daniel A. Peterson, Gerald K. Hall, James A. Hatfield, Nancy L. Hatfield, Jeffery A. Prause, Pam Prause, Dale E. Rohde, Marie Rohde, Jean A. Reed, Billy R. Reed, Kevin Sloan, Tammy Trullard, Robert Whall, Ann Whall, Richard A. Benfield, Virginia Benfield, Kathryn Henry, Ford Henry, Monte Ream, Susan Ream, Larry Leclair, Geraldine Leclair, Michael Young, Jennie Pratt, Joane Kraycs, Doria McLain, James A. Wash, Rebecca Wash, Steven Kirby, Deanna Kirby, and Craig Devlin, Plaintiffs/Counterdefendants-Appellees, v. David B. HANSON, Sherry M. Hanson, Jeffrey J. Jerome, and Lauri O. Jerome, Defendants/Counterplaintiffs-Appellants/Cross-Appellees, and County of Crawford, Defendant-Appellee, and Department of Natural Resources and Department of Commerce, Defendants/Counterdefendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants, and Township of Grayling, Intervening Defendant/Counterdefendant-Appellee/Cross-Appellant. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US |
Carey & Jaskowski, P.L.L.C. (by William L. Carey and Kathleen Kaufman), Grayling, for David B. and Sherry M. Hanson and Jeffrey J. and Lauri O. Jerome.
Michael A. Cox, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, A. Michael Leffler and James E. Riley, Assistant Attorneys General, for Departments of Commerce and Natural Resources.
Law Offices of Monte J. Burmeister, PLLC (by Monte Burmeister), Grayling, for Grayling Township.
Before: WHITBECK, C.J., and HOOD and KIRSTEN FRANK KELLY, JJ.
The trial court, having concluded as a matter of law that this was a proper action to quiet title, entered a judgment dividing a piece of disputed property. None of the original plaintiffs participates in this appeal. We reverse and remand.
These consolidated appeals arise from a property dispute involving a stretch of land located in Grayling Township, Crawford County. This piece of property is called "Northerly Boulevard," and at some times simply "Boulevard" or "boulevard." This land, which leads to Lake Margrethe, was marked as a "boulevard" on a 1902 plat of the Grayling Park subdivision. The 1902 plat included a statement that the "streets and alleys" on the plat were dedicated to the public's use. The land was also marked as a boulevard on a replat in 1916, which reiterated the public dedication of "streets and alleys." In 1937, the Crawford County Road Commission passed a resolution stating that it was meeting to take over streets. The resolution specified certain streets and alleys as being part of the county road system, including the boulevard under the subheading "Grayling Park." Approximately three years later, on July 5, 1940, the road commission passed a resolution expressing a desire to vacate certain streets, including the boulevard. On August 20, 1940, the road commission passed a resolution stating that it was amending the July 5, 1940, resolution, in part to strike the reference to the boulevard. However, while the road commission recorded the July 1940 resolution that vacated the boulevard in February 1954, it did not record the August 1940 resolution purporting to amend the July 1940 resolution. Further confusing the nature of the boulevard was a circuit court order entered in October 1940 vacating the plat of some of the streets in the Grayling Park subdivision, but not the boulevard at issue.
The boulevard was virtually unused until the mid-1960s, when the road commission paved a small portion of it. This paved strip extended through a wooded area toward the lake shore, but stopped short of the lake because of a steep decline toward the water. For about two years, the road commission also "punched" a hole in the snow banks to allow vehicles to turn around. Additionally, however, Grayling Township assessed taxes on a portion of the property, which it collected from David B. and Sherry M. Hanson.
In the 1990s, the numerous plaintiffs sued David Hanson, Sherry Hanson, Jeffrey Jerome, and Lauri Jerome, who own private property abutting the boulevard. Plaintiffs alleged that the Hansons and the Jeromes interfered with the public use of and wrongly claimed title to the boulevard, which was dedicated and accepted as a public street or alley. Plaintiffs wished to use the boulevard to gain access to Lake Margrethe. The Hansons and the Jeromes filed a countercomplaint seeking, among other things, to quiet title to the disputed property in themselves and to enjoin plaintiffs from doing anything other than accessing the surface of the lake for reasonable activities.1 Through a variety of procedures, including joinder and intervention, the Department of Commerce,2 the Department of Natural Resources, Grayling Township, and the Crawford County Road Commission became defendants in the action.
Once the proceedings in this case commenced, the trial court granted the road commission's motion for summary disposition, dismissing the commission from the case. The trial court also granted the motion for summary disposition brought by the Hansons and the Jeromes regarding the use of the lake at the end of the boulevard, permanently enjoining certain activities by nonproperty owners, such as sunbathing and erecting permanent boat moorings, but allowing one public dock to be erected for public use. Additionally, the trial court dismissed the majority of individual plaintiffs from this case when they failed to comply with discovery. Though the state Departments of Commerce and Natural Resources (the state parties) argued in their own motion for summary disposition that the Hansons and the Jeromes could not proceed on a quiet title theory because the Land Division Act (LDA), M.C.L. § 560.101 et seq., controlled the procedures and outcome in this case, the trial court denied the motion. In doing so, the trial court agreed with the Hansons and the Jeromes that there was a question of fact concerning whether the land had been privately owned since 1954, when the road commission recorded the resolution vacating the boulevard.
At trial, all the remaining governmental parties, including Gaylord Township, argued that the disputed boulevard was a public road because it had been dedicated to the public and the road commission had accepted that dedication. In contrast, the Hansons and the Jeromes argued that no proper governmental entity had ever accepted the land dedicated as the boulevard, much less in a timely manner, which meant that, as the adjoining property owners, the property constituting the boulevard had reverted to them. Alternatively, the Hanson and Jerome parties contended that if the dedicated property had been accepted in a proper and timely fashion, the road commission had abandoned the property in a July 5, 1940, resolution, which was recorded on February 6, 1954. As further evidence of abandonment, they noted that, in 1979, the Hansons had recorded a deed describing part of their property as "part of the vacated boulevard," the boulevard had not been included in three road certifications following 1940, and Grayling Township had taxed the Hansons for a portion of the boulevard, as if it were private property, not a public street.3 After a bench trial, the trial court concluded that a portion of the boulevard from North Portage Avenue to Lake Margrethe, including "all the paved strip and a 5 foot to 7-1/2 foot strip on each side thereof and encompassing the level usable portion of Northerly Boulevard" would be vested in Grayling...
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