Dobie v. Morrison
| Decision Date | 23 January 1998 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 200661 |
| Parties | Gerald D. DOBIE and Marcella J. Dobie, Plaintiffs-Appellants-Cross-Appellees, v. James MORRISON, Donna Morrison, Rose Fahrni, Erwin Fahrni, Della Messer, Neil Gaudard, Shirley Gaudard, Donald Addison, and Kathleen Addison, Defendants-Appellees-Cross-Appellants, and Randy Messer, Thomas Bartoszek, Scott Mitchell, Kris Mitchell, David Barratt, Rose Barratt, Mary Lou Pennington, Richard Hiar, Ruth Hiar, Sandra Blocher, James Blocher, Marjorie Vrooman, Sherwood Stanton Jr., Marilyn Stanton, Raymond Kalonowski, and Barbara Kalonowski, Defendants. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US |
Jeffrey L. Youngsma, Hastings, for Plaintiffs-Appellants-Cross-Appellees.
UAW-GM Legal Services Plan by Elena C. Hansen, Wyoming, for James and Donna Morrison, Donald and Kathleen Addison, Rose and Erwin Fahrni, Neil and Shirley Gaudard, and Della Messer.
Before MARKEY, P.J. and MICHAEL J. KELLY and WHITBECK, JJ.
The trial court held that plaintiffs are the riparian owners of the real property in question, known as "the park" located in Ottland Shores subdivision in Woodland Township, subject to defendants' easement. Plaintiffs appealed the judgment to this Court, while some defendants have cross appealed. The defendants who are participating in the cross appeal 1 essentially contend that the trial court erred in determining that plaintiffs were the owners in fee of the park. Both parties challenge the scope of the easement that the trial court found defendants have in the park. We affirm.
This action to quiet title involves the riparian rights to "the park." The southeast side of the park borders Jordan Lake and the northwest side borders lot 17 of the subdivision. Unless one considers the park to be part of lot 17, that lot does not directly border Jordan Lake. Orlo and Dorothy Fedewa, the plattors of the subdivision in 1966 and initial owners of lot 17, dedicated the park to "the use of the owners of lots in this plat which have no lake frontage." Plaintiffs are the current owners of lot 17 and the successors in interest to the plattors. Defendants are the owners of the remaining lots without lake frontage, the "back lots" as the parties refer to them.
The trial court granted summary disposition in favor of plaintiffs with respect to their status as the owners of the park. However, the trial court presided at a one-day bench trial regarding the scope of the easement that it found that the back lot owners held in the park. Thereafter, the trial court issued an opinion defining the scope of the easement.
The first issue is whether the trial court properly determined that plaintiffs have sole riparian rights to the park. Actions to quite title are equitable in nature and are reviewed de novo by this Court. Michigan Nat'l Bank & Trust Co. v. Morren, 194 Mich.App. 407, 410, 487 N.W.2d 784 (1992). Review de novo is also appropriate because this issue was decided by the trial court as a result of plaintiffs' motion for summary disposition. Ladd v. Ford Consumer Finance Co., Inc., 217 Mich.App. 119, 124, 550 N.W.2d 826 (1996).
Land that includes or is bounded by a natural watercourse is defined as riparian. Hess v. West Bloomfield Twp., 439 Mich. 550, 561, 486 N.W.2d 628 (1992). Exclusive of the park, lot 17 does not include a natural watercourse and is not bounded by a natural watercourse. However, the Michigan Supreme Court found in Croucher v. Wooster, 271 Mich. 337, 260 N.W. 739 (1935), that actual contact with the water is not necessarily required for riparian rights to exist. Specifically, the Court held that a lot separated from the water by a highway that is contiguous to the water is riparian land. Id. at 345, 260 N.W. 739. Although Croucher and its progeny involved ways dedicated to public use, the Court extended the holding to the effect that, with regard to a private right of way such as a walkway along the edge of a body of water, it is presumed that the owner of a lot separated from the water only by the right of way owns the land and, accordingly, has riparian rights, while others authorized to use the right of way have an easement. Thies v. Howland, 424 Mich. 282, 290-293, 380 N.W.2d 463 (1985). At the hearing regarding their motion for summary disposition, plaintiffs argued by analogy to Thies that the dedication of the park along the edge of Jordan Lake did not cut off their riparian rights, and the trial court agreed.
The facts in Thies, supra at 286, 380 N.W.2d 463, involved the dedication in a subdivision plat of a twelve-foot-wide "walk" running along the lakeshore. Id. at 286, 380 N.W.2d 463. The plaintiffs, front lot owners, filed suit to enjoin the defendants, back lot owners, from maintaining a dock in front of their property or anchoring their boats in the lake. Id. at 287, 380 N.W.2d 463. The Michigan Supreme Court held that the plaintiffs were presumed to own the fee in the walk running along the front of their lots. This holding was an extension of the rule that owners of land abutting a street are presumed to own the fee in the street to the center, subject to the easement. Id. at 291, 380 N.W.2d 463.
Defendants distinguish Thies by arguing that the holding should be confined to a right of way and not extended to the park in this case. We agree that this case is not controlled by Thies. Although the park in this case was primarily created to provide the back lot owners with access to the lakefront, a park is not the same as a right of way. The reasoning in Thies was predicated on a mere walkway dividing the riparian owners from the body of water in that case. Id. at 289-290, 380 N.W.2d 463. We do not regard it as appropriate to compare a narrow walkway along a body of water to the relatively large park in this case. Absent a contrary indication, it is eminently reasonable to presume that a walkway along a lake was placed merely as an easement to provide access to the lake and not with the intent to convey actual fee ownership of the land containing the walkway. The same is simply not true of the relatively large park in this case.
Nonetheless, we affirm the trial court's decision that plaintiffs retained their ownership in fee and, thus, their riparian rights, Hess, supra at 561, 486 N.W.2d 628, to the park because the undisputed facts in the record establish that the plattors intended that the park...
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