Dubuc v. GREEN OAK TP., Docket No. 114292, COA No. 191293.
| Decision Date | 05 May 2000 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 114292, COA No. 191293. |
| Citation | 609 N.W.2d 829,461 Mich. 916 |
| Parties | Dennis DUBUC, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GREEN OAK TOWNSHIP, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
On order of the Court, the motion for reconsideration of this Court's order of November 29, 1999, is considered, and it is DENIED because it does not appear that the order was entered erroneously. The motion for sanctions is also considered, and it is GRANTED, limited to defendant's actual expenses, including attorney fees, in answering the motion for reconsideration, pursuing the motion for sanctions, and responding to any unsuccessful challenge to the amounts claimed by defendant under this order. Defendant shall file a bill of expenses in the Livingston County Circuit Court which shall review those expenses and any challenges to them and issue an order setting the amount to be awarded in compliance with this order.
We do not retain jurisdiction.
CORRIGAN, J., concurs and states as follows:
I concur in the order granting defendant's motion for sanctions and remanding to the trial court to determine defendant's actual expenses. I write separately to encourage the trial court to consider extraordinary sanctions to deter plaintiff from continuing his vexatious tactics that have led to years of abusive litigation. It appears from the extant records that plaintiff may not have complied fully with previous orders imposing monetary sanctions.
In the past fifteen years, plaintiff has filed at least ten lawsuits: eight in circuit court, one in federal court, and one before the State Construction Commission involving the same subject matter. In 1985, plaintiff sued Green Oak Township in Livingston Circuit Court, seeking to compel issuance of a building permit for a building on which plaintiff had already begun construction. A consent judgment entered providing for issuance of a building permit and requiring plaintiff to construct the building in compliance with relevant township codes, zoning ordinances, and a revised site plan.
Because plaintiff failed to comply with building and construction codes, the township refused to issue certificates of occupancy. Plaintiff refused to vacate the building. Instead, he filed another lawsuit, seeking mandamus. Again he asserted multiple causes of action. Proceedings were stalled for nearly three years in part because plaintiff moved to disqualify the trial judge. When plaintiff's counsel failed to appear for two scheduled conferences, the trial court imposed sanctions. Plaintiff failed to pay the sanctions, resulting in dismissal.
Meanwhile, the township denied plaintiff's request for another building permit because the approved site plan had expired, the building dimensions differed from the site plan, and the work site did not conform to the site plan. Plaintiff filed yet another lawsuit seeking mandamus to compel issuance of a building permit and damages. The trial court dismissed the case, held plaintiff in contempt of court, and ordered him to vacate the buildings until they passed inspection and received certificates of occupancy.
Plaintiff then filed the instant action, once again seeking a writ of mandamus. The trial court ordered plaintiff to vacate the building, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. Plaintiff next moved to disqualify the trial judge. The judge denied the order, and the chief judge denied p...
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Dubuc v. Green Oak Tp.
...The Michigan Supreme Court denied Appellant's motion for leave to appeal and his motion for reconsideration.1 Dubuc v. Green Oak Township, 461 Mich. 916, 609 N.W.2d 829, 829 (2000). Additionally, the Michigan Supreme Court granted the defendant's motion for sanctions and remanded to the tri......
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Dubuc v. Michigan Bd. of Law Examiners
...Dubuc's application for leave to appeal, 461 Mich. 916, 604 N.W.2d 679 (1999), and denied his subsequent motion to reconsider, 461 Mich. 916, 609 N.W.2d 829 (2000). In conjunction with the denial of his motion to reconsider, Justice Corrigan, joined by a majority of the other Michigan Supre......
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Dubuc v. Green Oak Tp.
...court to "consider extraordinary sanctions" to deter Plaintiff from continuing those tactics. See Dubuc v. Green Oak Township, 609 N.W.2d 829 (Mich. May 5, 2000) (opinion of Corrigan, J.). With the exception of the remand to fix the amount of sanctions, Plaintiff's state court litigation ap......
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Dubuc v. Green Oak Twp.
...Court, Dubuc filed "at least ten lawsuits" between 1985and 2000, when the opinion was written. Dubuc v. Green Oak Twp., 609 N.W.2d 829, 829-30 (Mich. 2000) (Corrigan, J., concurring). Since that time, Dubuc has appeared as an appellant before the Sixth Circuit six times.1 Most of these suit......