People v. Sheeks

625 N.W.2d 798, 244 Mich. App. 584
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 9, 2001
DocketDocket 220199
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 625 N.W.2d 798 (People v. Sheeks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Sheeks, 625 N.W.2d 798, 244 Mich. App. 584 (Mich. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinions

O’Connell, P.J.

Defendant appeals by leave granted a circuit court order affirming a district court’s determination that defendant violated the ninety-six-inch width restriction provision of the Michigan Vehicle Code, MCL 257.717; MSA 9.2417. We reverse.

At the time of the proceedings below, Frank Mun-sell owned a farming operation that employed defendant. Munsell testified at the district court hearing that he invented a device called a “silage bagger.” Munsell testified as follows regarding the silage bagger:

It’s to take the place of an upright silo .... The silage bagger is an alternative method of storing silage, haylage, oatlage, whatever product basically that you’d like to feed cattle. . . . It’s a unit — I guess you bring it up in a conventional wagon that you’d normally be dumping into a blower that blows material into a silo. You’d bring it up to the silage bagger, dump it into the silage bagger. And there’s an auger inside, and it packs it into this plastic bag, which is actually the silage bag, at a rate of, per se, a ton per lineal foot.

Munsell noted that the silage bagger must have a tractor hooked to its front end in order to operate, but [587]*587that it could be towed to a destination with either a tractor or a truck.

Officer Barry Archer testified at the district court hearing that on November 9, 1998, he observed defendant driving on US-127. Archer stated that US-127 is a “green route,” which permits vehicles up to 102 inches wide,1 and that he pulled defendant over because he suspected that defendant lacked a permit for the wide equipment that he was towing. The equipment measured eleven feet, two inches wide, and Archer issued defendant a commercial law citation. Archer testified that defendant told him that he was towing a silage bagger back to Munsell’s farm from another farm to which Munsell had loaned it.

MCL 257.717(1); MSA 9.2417(1) provides that the total outside width of a vehicle or its load may not exceed 96 inches. Subsection 2, MCL 257.717(2); MSA 9.2417(2), contains an exception:

A person may operate or move an implement of husbandry of any width on a highway as required for normal farming operations without obtaining a special permit for an excessively wide vehicle or load under [MCL 257.725; MSA 9.2425]. The operation or movement of the implement of husbandry shall be in a manner so as to minimize the interruption of traffic flow. A person shall not operate or move an implement of husbandry to the left of the center of the roadway from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise, under the conditions specified in section 639, or at any time visibility is substantially diminished due to weather conditions. A person operating or moving an implement of husbandry shall follow all traffic regulations.

[588]*588MCL 257.716(2); MSA 9.2416(2) provides an exception for “an implement of husbandry incidentally moved upon a highway . . . .” MCL 257.21; MSA 9.1821 defines “an implement of husbandry” as “a vehicle which is either a farm tractor, a vehicle designed to be drawn by a farm tractor or an animal, a vehicle which directly harvests farm products, or a vehicle which directly applies fertilizer, spray, or seeds to a farm field.”

Defendant argued that the silage bagger was “required for normal farming operations” and “incidentally moved upon a highway,” and therefore qualified under both exceptions. The district court ruled that the “normal farming operations” exception of MCL 257.717(2); MSA 9.2417(2) applied in a situation where a farmer had an operation in various locations that required him to transport his equipment from one location to another. The district court found that the facts of the case fell outside the scope of “normal farming operations” because Munsell’s farm had merely loaned the equipment to another farm. The district court further held, without explanation, that the “incidentally moved upon a highway” exception contained in MCL 257.716(2); MSA 9.2416(2) did not apply. The court concluded that defendant’s transportation of the silage bagger was a violation of MCL 257.717(1); MSA 9.2417(1), and ordered him to pay fines and costs in the amount of $110.

Defendant appealed this decision to the circuit court. The circuit court concluded that the statute did not contemplate movement “across the state” and that transportation of the equipment was “dangerous and extra hazardous to members of the public and [589]*589should not be permitted.” The circuit court affirmed the district court’s ruling.

Defendant’s first contention on appeal is that both lower courts erred in concluding that the silage bagger did not fall within the “normal farming operations” exception of MCL 257.717(2); MSA 9.2417(2). Resolution of this issue entails a matter of statutory interpretation and, therefore, involves a question of law that we review de novo. Sands Appliance Services, Inc v Wilson, 463 Mich 231, 238; 615 NW2d 241 (2000); Casey v Henry Ford Health System, 235 Mich App 449, 450; 597 NW2d 840 (1999). Defendant does not dispute that the silage bagger was 134 inches wide. The prosecutor concedes that the silage bagger was an implement of husbandry.

The first step in discerning the intent of the Legislature is to consider the statutory language itself. Cherry Growers, Inc v Agricultural Marketing & Bargaining Bd, 240 Mich App 153, 166; 610 NW2d 613 (2000). We read statutory language “according to its ordinary and generally accepted meaning.” Id. Unless reasonable minds could differ regarding the meaning of the language, judicial construction is not warranted. Id.

1999 PA 63, effective June 17, 1999, amended the statutoiy provision containing the “normal farming operations” exception. The amendment broadened the exception to include all implements of husbandry that are “required, designed, and intended for farming operations.” MCL 257.717(2); MSA 9.2417(2). Defendant contends that the amendment makes clear that the legislative intent behind the section was to provide a broad exemption for implements of husbandry.

[590]*590Absent an express or implied indication that the Legislature intended otherwise, statutes are presumed to operate prospectively. Allstate Ins Co v Faulhaber, 157 Mich App 164, 166; 403 NW2d 527 (1987). However, an amendment may apply retroactively where the Legislature enacts an amendment to clarify an existing statute and to resolve a controversy regarding its meaning. Adrian School Dist v Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement System, 458 Mich 326, 337; 582 NW2d 767 (1998); Faulhaber, supra at 167; 1A Singer, Sutherland Statutory Construction (5th ed), § 22.34, p 297.

The preamendment version of the statute exempted implements of husbandry that were required for “normal farming operations,” but the statute did not define “normal” or “normal farming operations.” In the amendment, our Legislature deleted the word “normal” and replaced it with the phrase “required, designed, and intended.” In addition, we note the following portions of the accompanying legislative analysis:

The vehicle code, however, generally exempts farm equipment and vehicles from its requirements, and with regard to oversized vehicles, the code specifically allows a person to operate or move an “implement of husbandry”...

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People v. Sheeks
625 N.W.2d 798 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
625 N.W.2d 798, 244 Mich. App. 584, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-sheeks-michctapp-2001.