Timm Smith v. Township of Holly

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 19, 2015
Docket323421
StatusUnpublished

This text of Timm Smith v. Township of Holly (Timm Smith v. Township of Holly) 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
Timm Smith v. Township of Holly, (Mich. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

TIMM SMITH and MARIA C. HOWARD- UNPUBLISHED SMITH, November 19, 2015

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v No. 323421 Oakland Circuit Court TOWNSHIP OF HOLLY, LC No. 2010-113821-CZ

Defendant-Appellee.

Before: JANSEN, P.J., and MURPHY and RIORDAN, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiffs, Timm Smith and Maria C. Howard-Smith, husband and wife, appeal as of right the trial court’s order granting summary disposition in favor of defendant, Township of Holly. Plaintiffs also appeal the order of the trial court dividing the property at issue in this case pursuant to defendant’s proposed survey. We affirm.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

We previously heard and summarized the relevant factual background of this case in Smith v Township of Holly, unpublished opinion per curiam of the Court of Appeals, issued August 13, 2013 (Docket Nos. 306406, 306758):

This matter involves certain property located at 1031 South Holly Road, Fenton, MI 48430. The property has a complicated chain of title and possession. Plaintiffs first gained a property interest in this land in 1989, when they entered into a land contract for the purchase of just under 20 acres of vacant land at this location. Over the next 15 years plaintiffs engaged in a series of property transfers among family members. The transfers involved a central ten-acre portion of the parcel and two five-acre sections. However, neither plaintiffs nor their family members ever actually split the property, so despite the numerous property transfers, the near 20 acres remained undivided and retained one tax identification number. Eventually, all of the land that had been transferred to family members was returned to plaintiffs, such that they again owned the entire 20-acre parcel.

-1- On December 7, 2004, plaintiffs took out a mortgage on the central 10 acres of property, on which sat their house, in the amount of $137,600. The mortgage did not apply to the two five-acre portions of property. The mortgagee was Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS), and the lender was Republic Bank. Plaintiffs began to have difficulty paying their mortgage and, eventually, MERS foreclosed by advertisement on plaintiffs’ 10 acres of property and a sheriff’s sale was held on May 27, 2008. MERS was the highest bidder at the sheriff’s sale in the amount of $138,502.78. The recording included information that the “[t]he redemption period shall be 12 months from the date of sale[,]” namely, May 27, 2009.

On June 3, 2008, MERS quit claimed the 10-acre property to Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA). On May 21, 2009, FNMA quit claimed the 10-acre property to PHH Mortgage Corporation (PHH). PHH sought possession of the 10-acre property from plaintiffs and on July 9, 2009, obtained a consent judgment against plaintiffs in the district court. The district court judgment stated that an order of eviction would be issued against plaintiffs if they did not vacate the property by August 10, 2009. Thereafter, plaintiffs voluntarily left the property within 30 days. On November 19, 2009, PHH gifted, via quit claim deed, the 10-acre property to defendant. Plaintiffs moved their family back into the house located on the subject 10 acres in late November 2010 by entering through an unlocked window. [Id. at 2.]

After the aforementioned events, plaintiffs brought the instant suit, requesting that the trial court quiet title in their favor and find a violation of the Land Division Act, MCL 560.101 et seq., wrongful eviction and forcible entry and detainer, slander of title, and constructive eviction and trespass. See id. at 2-3. Defendant filed a motion for summary disposition, arguing that the doctrine of laches precluded plaintiffs from quieting title to the 10-acre property in their favor. Id. at 2.1 The trial court agreed and granted defendant’s motion for summary disposition, holding that plaintiffs’ claims was barred by the doctrine of laches. Id. at 3. However, the court refused to enter an order quieting title to the 10-acre parcel in favor of defendant. Id.

On appeal, we affirmed the trial court’s decision to dismiss plaintiffs’ claims regarding the 10-acre portion of property based on the doctrine of laches, but we remanded the case to the trial court for entry of an order quieting title of the 10-acre parcel in favor of defendant and proper division of the property. Id. at 4-7. We also instructed the trial court “to consider plaintiffs’ claims involving the two five-acre portions of land that still belong to plaintiffs.” Id. at 2, 5.

On remand, defendant argued that the property should be divided along the lines that were already established through plaintiffs’ informal division of land and mortgage of the central 10 acres. Accordingly, it prepared a proposed property division under which plaintiffs received

1 Plaintiffs also filed a motion for partial summary disposition, which the trial court denied. Id. at 2-3.

-2- easements across the 10-acre parcel to access the remaining five-acre parcels. Plaintiffs asserted that a “proper division” under this Court’s previous opinion required “actual access” to the remaining five-acre parcels, separate parcel IDs for each parcel, and building permits for each five-acre parcel. After hearing the parties’ arguments, the trial court entered an order adopting defendant’s proposed division in accordance with the survey, legal descriptions, and easements prepared by defendant. The trial court also entered an order quieting title to the 10-acre portion in favor of defendant.

Next, defendant moved for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(8) and (C)(10). It argued that the remaining counts of plaintiffs’ amended complaint were not viable claims because they were previously disposed of, barred by governmental immunity, or solely related to the parcel of land owned by defendant, not the remaining five-acre parcels. Plaintiffs also moved for partial summary disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(10), arguing that there was no genuine issue of material fact that the Land Division Act had been violated, that governmental immunity did not apply to intentional torts, and that it had properly pleaded and proven their remaining tort claims. However, plaintiffs later filed a response to defendant’s motion for summary disposition, in which they asserted that their remaining claims pertained to the remaining five-acre parcels in their possession, and that there was a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether defendant’s acts were intentional for purposes of governmental immunity.

The trial court denied plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary disposition and granted defendant’s motion. It held that plaintiffs’ claim under the Land Division Act claim had been disposed of, that defendant was entitled to governmental immunity as to plaintiffs’ remaining claims, and that plaintiffs had failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted in light of the fact that their claims were solely related to the 10-acre parcel now owned by defendants.

II. LAND DIVISION

First, plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in adopting defendant’s proposed land division because it violated the Land Division Act and local ordinances. We disagree.

A. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a trial court’s ultimate decision in an action to quiet title, but we review for clear error the factual findings underlying its decision. Jonkers v Summit Twp, 278 Mich App 263, 265; 747 NW2d 901 (2008). “In resolving an issue of statutory interpretation, our primary aim is to effect the intent of the Legislature.

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Timm Smith v. Township of Holly, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/timm-smith-v-township-of-holly-michctapp-2015.