Charter Township of Haring v. City of Cadillac

• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Decided: January 25, 2012
• Docket: 142117
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order Michigan Supreme Court Lansing, Michigan

January 25, 2012 Robert P. Young, Jr., Chief Justice

8/November 2011 Michael F. Cavanagh Marilyn Kelly Stephen J. Markman 142117-8 Diane M. Hathaway Mary Beth Kelly Brian K. Zahra, CHARTER TOWNSHIP OF HARING, Justices Plaintiff-Appellant, v SC: 142117 COA: 292122 Wexford CC: 08-020967-CK CITY OF CADILLAC, Defendant-Appellee. _________________________________________/ TOWNSHIP OF SELMA, Plaintiff-Appellant, and TOWNSHIP OF CLAM LAKE, Plaintiff, v SC: 142118 COA: 292164 Wexford CC: 08-021381-CK CITY OF CADILLAC, Defendant-Appellee.

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On order of the Court, leave to appeal having been granted and the briefs and oral arguments of the parties having been considered by the Court, we AFFIRM the October 12, 2010 judgment of the Court of Appeals. Although courts are not bound by the parties’ determination that a case is ripe, we agree with the parties that considering all of the circumstances this case is ripe for adjudication and that the claims are not contingent or hypothetical.

The grant of leave to appeal also asked the parties to address whether Washtenaw County Health Dep’t v T&M Chevrolet, Inc, 406 Mich 518 (1979), which held that when “an available sewer line crosses municipal boundaries, the municipality operating the 2

sewer system may not condition connection on annexation of the properties involved when connection means abatement of a public health hazard[,]” id. at 525-526, was correctly decided and, if so, whether it requires the defendant to continue providing sewage transportation and treatment services to the plaintiff townships. However, because there is no “public health hazard” requiring abatement presented in this case, the issue is not directly before the Court at this time and need not be decided.

I, Corbin R. Davis, Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court, certify that the foregoing is a true and complete copy of the order entered at the direction of the Court. January 25, 2012 _________________________________________ t0118 Clerk