Baum Family Trust v. Babel
| Decision Date | 23 June 2009 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 284547. |
| Citation | 773 N.W.2d 44,284 Mich. App. 544 |
| Parties | 2000 BAUM FAMILY TRUST v. BABEL. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US |
Fraser Trebilcock Davis & Dunlap, P.C. (by Michael C. Levine), Lansing, for the County Road Association of Michigan, amicus curiae.
Gentry Law Offices, P.C. (by Kevin S. Gentry), Whitmore Lake, for the Higgins Lake Civic Association, amicus curiae.
Carey & Jaskowski, PLLC (by William L. Carey), Grayling, and Law, Weathers & Richardson, P.C. (by Clifford H. Bloom), Grand Rapids, for the Michigan Waterfront Alliance and the Higgins Lake Property Owners Association, amici curiae.
Before: FORT HOOD, P.J., and MARK J. CAVANAGH and K.F. KELLY, JJ.
This appeal involves a dispute over riparian rights to Lake Charlevoix, formerly known as Pine Lake. Plaintiffs are owners of lots fronting Lake Charlevoix but separated from the water by Beach Drive, a road dedicated to the use of the public that runs parallel and immediately adjacent to the lake. The trial court denied plaintiffs' motion for partial summary disposition, ruling that plaintiffs' lots were not riparian because a statutory dedication vested a fee in the public, thereby destroying plaintiffs' claim to riparian rights. Plaintiffs now appeal and we affirm.
The property at issue is riparian land on the northern shore of Lake Charlevoix in Charlevoix County, Michigan. On July 15 1911, the North Charlevoix Company, a Michigan corporation, executed a dedication of the plat of North Charlevoix, the subject riparian land. The plat includes 49 approximately rectangular enclosed numbered lots. The exact dimensions of each of these lots are included in the plat, as well as the inland coordinates. The plat also includes six named streets, including Western Avenue, Central Avenue, Park Avenue, Cottage Avenue, Lake Avenue, and Beach Drive. All these streets run parallel to the lake, except for Central Avenue, which cuts through the center of the plat and is perpendicular to the lake. While the plat shows a single dock extending into the lake at the end of Central Avenue, there is no indication in the record whether this dock was ever built, or how, if it did exist, it was used. With respect to these roadways, the dedication includes the following language: "the streets and alleys as shown on said plat are hereby dedicated to the use of the public." Significantly, none of the platted lots touches the shoreline. Rather, Beach Drive, which runs east to west, abuts the shoreline and separates the 11 platted lots closest to the water, or the front tier lots, from Lake Charlevoix. In other words, these 11 lots extend to the edge of the road, not to the water's edge.
The Charlevoix County Board of Supervisors accepted the plat and the dedication of streets on August 7, 1911. It is undisputed that the public has continued to accept the dedication of the roadways, including Beach Drive. Today, the Charlevoix County Road Commission (CCRC) maintains Beach Drive, which is now paved. A recent aerial photograph, not included in the lower court record, shows that Beach Dive does not actually touch the water's edge. Rather, it appears that a small strip of land and some trees are between the water's edge and the roadway. In addition, multiple docks extend into the lake from Beach Drive.
The eight plaintiffs in this dispute all own front tier lots abutting Beach Drive. The legal descriptions of their properties do not extend to the lake's edge, nor is there a grant of riparian rights to these plaintiffs in their deeds of record.1 The lots are taxed as "lake view" properties, rather than lakefront properties. Nonetheless, over the years, these plaintiffs have used the lake in front of their lots and, in some instances, have built docks extending into the lake in order to moor their boats and other water-related equipment. According to plaintiffs, the Army Corps of Engineers issued each of them a permit to maintain their docks in front of their properties.2 Various other owners of properties in the plat not fronting the water, however, also allegedly began using the waterfront in front of plaintiffs' homes. According to plaintiffs, these back lot owners used the waterfront inconsistently with plaintiffs' riparian rights by installing their own docks or using a dock, and by docking and storing their boats and other waterrelated equipment on the waterfront. Allegedly, some of these back lot owners were unable to obtain permits to maintain their docks from the Army Corps of Engineers and therefore threatened to sue plaintiffs for permission to maintain their seasonal docks.3
On March 20, 2007, as a result of this overcrowding, plaintiffs filed a four-count complaint against these back lot owners, as well as the CCRC, and Charlevoix Township alleging claims of trespass and nuisance and seeking injunctive and equitable relief. Subsequently, on September 9, 2007, the CCRC counter-claimed, alleging that plaintiffs had trespassed on Beach Drive by maintaining encroachments on the drive, including docks, fencing, landscaping, rocks and rock walls, septic drain fields, and a flagpole among various other intrusions. The individually named back lot defendants also counterclaimed, asserting a claim of adverse possession or alternatively seeking a declaration that they have easements, either by acquiescence or by prescription.
On October 4, 2007, additional back lot owners who use the lakefront moved to intervene in the action. The trial court granted the motion on October 25, 2007. On November 1, 2007, these intervening defendants filed a counterclaim also alleging a claim of adverse possession or alternatively for a declaration that they have easements, either by acquiescence or by prescription.
On November 1, 2007, plaintiffs moved for partial summary disposition against the CCRC alone, alleging that there is no issue of material fact regarding which party is entitled to riparian rights. Plaintiffs argued that because their lots were separated from the water by a roadway contiguous to the water, their lots were riparian. In plaintiffs' view, the CCRC has a right to the use of Beach Drive as a roadway only. In response, the CCRC argued that plaintiffs did not have riparian rights because the public holds Beach Drive in fee pursuant to the statutory dedication under the applicable plat act, which means that plaintiffs' lands are not riparian. The back lot defendants also filed a motion in response, arguing that plaintiffs did not have riparian rights because, as shown on the plat, none of their properties abuts the lake. In its response, Charlevoix Township adopted the arguments of the CCRC and the back lot defendants. In addition, Charlevoix Township argued that the township could be defeased of Beach Drive only pursuant to the Land Division Act.
Subsequently, the trial court denied plaintiffs' motion, ruling that plaintiffs did not have any riparian rights. The trial court framed the issue as "whether Beach Drive is an easement with the fee title residing in the front lot owners or whether the public holds fee title." The court, relying on a Michigan property law treatise, found that the statutory dedication resulted in the "fee of this property [being] vested in the public." It followed, in the trial court's view, that because plaintiffs "do not hold fee title to the waterfront land in front of their respective lots, they do not possess riparian rights." The trial court cited a portion of Thies v. Howland, 424 Mich. 282, 380 N.W.2d 463 (1985), citing American Jurisprudence, in support of its determination. Subsequently, plaintiffs moved for reconsideration, but the trial court denied the motion. This interlocutory appeal followed.4
We review de novo a trial court's determination on a motion for summary disposition. Klein v. Kik, 264 Mich.App. 682, 684, 692 N.W.2d 854 (2005). In reviewing such a motion, we must consider all the pleadings, admissions, and other admissible evidence presented below in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Brown v. Brown, 478 Mich. 545, 551-552, 739 N.W.2d 313 (2007). Summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(10) is properly granted if no genuine factual dispute exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment or partial judgment as a matter of law. Klein, supra at 685, 692 N.W.2d 854. Further, plaintiffs' claim to establish title as sole riparian owners, or to quiet title, is equitable in nature and is reviewed de novo by this Court. Dobie v. Morrison, 227 Mich.App. 536, 538, 575 N.W.2d 817 (1998). And, to the extent that we must address issues of statutory interpretation or other questions of law, our review is de novo. Martin v. Beldean, 469 Mich. 541, 546, 677 N.W.2d 312 (2004).
At the outset, we note that the material facts of this matter do not appear to be in dispute. Rather, the main question presented on appeal is a question of law: Whether plaintiffs have riparian rights where their lots abut a roadway that runs contiguous to the lakeshore and was created pursuant to a dedication in an approved plat. Plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred by ruling that the dedication of Beach Drive to the public conveyed an absolute fee interest in the land on which the road is maintained. According to plaintiffs, the dedication merely transferred a limited fee for the sole purpose of maintaining the road, and it had no effect on plaintiffs' riparian rights because the dedication language limited the public's interest in the alleys and streets to maintaining those roadways. We disagree...
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Trust v. Babel
...commission (defendant) was in "no way" limited in the type of use it could make of the public road. 2000 Baum Family Trust v. Babel, 284 Mich.App. 544, 561, 773 N.W.2d 44 (2009). We reverse. The road at issue, along Lake Charlevoix, was dedicated under the 1887 plat act. Many lots alongside......