Sprik v. Regents of University of Michigan, 6

• Decision Date: 18 September 1973
• Docket Number: No. 6,6
• Citation: 390 Mich. 84,210 N.W.2d 332
• Parties: Dale R. SPRIK et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. REGENTS OF the UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, a constitutional corporation, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

Page 332

210 N.W.2d 332

390 Mich. 84

Dale R. SPRIK et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. REGENTS OF the UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, a constitutional corporation, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 6.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Sept. 18, 1973.

Douvan, Harrington & Carpenter by Arthur E. Carpenter, Ann Arbor, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Roderick K. Daane, Ann Arbor, for defendant-appellee.

DeVine & DeVine, Allyn D. Kantor, Ann Arbor, for the Public Schools of the City of Ann Arbor.

Before the Entire Bench (Except LEVIN, J.)

BRENNAN, Justice.

Plaintiffs are residents of apartment facilities owned and operated by defendant, Regents of the University of Michigan.

On March 1, 1971, plaintiffs instituted this class action on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, seeking an injunction against the defendant restraining it from collecting certain money from the plaintiffs and requiring the refund of such funds already collected.

The facts are not in dispute. In the Court of Claims where this action was originally heard, both defendant and plaintiffs sought summary judgment, each claiming that the pleaded and conceded facts entitled them to judgment.

The background of this controversy is well stated in a letter from the general counsel for the defendant to the Attorney General. The letter was attached to plaintiffs' complaint as an exhibit.

'For a number of years the University of Michigan, as a part of its educational system, has operated a primary and secondary school, which provided education for a number of residents of the City of Ann Arbor who would otherwise have attended the public schools. Several years ago the Board of Regents discontinued University High School and, at the same time, conveyed approximately 25 acres of land adjacent to the North Campus of the University of Michigan as a part of the site of Huron High School, which was constructed by the Public Schools of the City of Ann Arbor to meet the increasing enrollment. By action of the Board of Regents, the junior high school was discontinued in June of 1969, and the University Elementary School will be discontinued in June of 1970.

'The University in the performance of its educational functions provides housing for both unmarried and married students of the University of Michigan. At the present time it has approximately 1300 family units for the housing of married students on the North Campus of the University of Michigan, and there are 386 children of married students of the University of Michigan residing in the tax-exempt facilities of the University who attend the public schools of the City of Ann Arbor. The education of these children places a burden on the Public Schools of the City of Ann Arbor for which it receives no compensation in the way of direct or indirect taxation of the parents of the said children.

'The Public Schools of the City of Ann Arbor has demanded that the University provide equitable compensation for the education furnished to children of students living in tax-exempt facilities either by a payment in lieu of taxation or by a payment for services rendered comparable to the contracts authorized by Mich.Stat.Ann. § 4.191, M.C.L.A. § 17.71.

'The representatives of the Public Schools and of the Regents have tentatively agreed that the University should pay to the Public Schools of the City of Ann Arbor the sum of $252,000.00 for educational facilities furnished to the 386 children residing in the tax-exempt housing of the University of Michigan for the school year 1970--71. This amount roughly approximates the amount that would be paid for school taxes if the married student housing facilities on the North Campus of the University of Michigan were on the tax roll.

'The Board of Regents has given conditional approval to this tentative agreement provided that a portion of the payment is obtained from an increase in rental of the housing facilities and provided, further, that no payment shall be made to the Public Schools of the City of Ann Arbor until an opinion is obtained from the Attorney General of the State of Michigan or a court as to the legality of such payment.'

A second exhibit attached to plaintiffs' complaint is a notice to residents of University Apartment Facilities, including the present plaintiffs:

'As many of you are aware a rental increase for University Apartment Facilities was authorized at the May 15, 1970 meeting of the Board of Regents of the University. The new rents effective August 1, 1970 cover not only increases in costs of operations anticipated for next year but also include a sum of $6 per apartment per month as partial payment for school services available to children of University Family Housing residents.

'The Regents have stipulated that the rental increase attributable to school services will be collected as part of the rent effective August 1, 1970 but no payment will be made until an opinion is obtained from the Attorney General of the State of Michigan or a court of competent jurisdiction as to the legality of such payments for school services.

'Effective August 1, 1970 the following payments are due for your appropriate unit. These rental increases are being made in accord with the terms of your apartment lease agreement.

"Rates for University Terrace and Northwood I, II, & III

                "Efficiency Units--                                   $106
                "One-bedroom--Northwood II Sub-dwellings--             116
                "One-bedroom--Other Units--                            121
                "Two-bedroom Units--                                   136
                     "Rates for Northwood IV
                

                                      Unfurnished    Furnished     Utilities
                "One-bedroom                  $116      $126          $22
                "Two-bedroom                   131       133           24
                "Three-bedroom

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