Township of Hayes v. Robert Fowler

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 14, 2015
Docket320530
StatusUnpublished

This text of Township of Hayes v. Robert Fowler (Township of Hayes v. Robert Fowler) 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
Township of Hayes v. Robert Fowler, (Mich. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

HAYES TOWNSHIP, UNPUBLISHED May 14, 2015 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v No. 320530 Charlevoix Circuit Court ROBERT FOWLER and BRIGITTE FOWLER, LC No. 13-055824-CE

Defendants-Appellants.

Before: BECKERING, P.J., and MARKEY and SHAPIRO, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendants appeal by right the trial court’s order granting plaintiff summary disposition, denying defendants’ motion for summary disposition and granting plaintiff injunctive relief by enforcing the terms of a 1995 agreement and a 2000 quitclaim deed by which defendants’ predecessors in title conveyed the disputed property to plaintiff. Defendants also appeal the trial court’s ruling upholding the validity of a 2006 consent judgment that incorporated the 1995 agreement and amended the plat of Pine Point in Charlevoix County by vacating the portion designated as Beach Drive. Defendants argue plaintiff’s complaint was barred by res judicata, the 1995 agreement and 2000 quitclaim deed could not create property rights in plaintiff, and the 2006 judgment was void based on the failure to timely file an amended plat. For the reasons set forth within, we conclude these arguments lack merit. Consequently, we affirm.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

The pertinent underlying facts in this case are not disputed. Defendants’ predecessor in title, collectively referred to as the Darntons, owned Lots 2, 3, and 4 of Block 12 of the plat of Pine Point. The Darnton lots abutted Beach Drive, which is situated along the shore of Lake Charlevoix. For many years, the Darntons claimed ownership of that portion of Beach Drive adjacent to their lots on the bases that its dedication as a public street was never accepted by any public authority or alternatively was abandoned by the government and that their long-term use and exclusive possession of the property resulted in adverse possession.

In 1968, the Darntons brought an action for a declaratory judgment in the circuit court against Hayes Township, the Charlevoix County Road Commission, and the Auditor General of Michigan. The complaint alleged that “Beach Drive . . . alleys as platted [had] never been formally accepted for streets or alleys; or that, in the alternative, the said streets and alleys were abandoned by the municipal government.” Darnton v Hayes Twp, 22 Mich App 575, 577; 177 -1- NW2d 706 (1970). The trial court in that case granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss, without prejudice, on the basis that “the provisions of the statute known as the Subdivision Control Act[1] outlines the procedure to be followed instead of the provisions of GCR 1963, 521, known as the Declaratory Judgment Procedure.” Darnton, 22 Mich App at 577. On appeal, this Court affirmed the trial court, ruling “that in order to fully and adequately protect all of the abutting land owners, all of the land owners within the plat, and the public at large, the Subdivision Control Act is the preferable means for proceeding, in this case.” Id. at 580-581. Consequently, the Court held that the trial court’s dismissal of the Darntons’ action was not an abuse of discretion. Id. at 581.

The Darntons did not initiate an action under the Subdivision Control Act. But they continued to assert that they were riparian owners of the disputed Beach Drive property on the bases of abandonment of the public right of way and their long-term use and exclusive possession of the property. Hayes Township also continued to dispute the Darntons’ claims and asserted an interest in the property as a public park. The Darntons and Hayes Township subsequently entered an agreement on August 19, 1995, resolving their competing claims to the Beach Drive property. In the agreement, Hayes Township acknowledged the Darntons’ claim to ownership of the disputed property, and the Darntons agreed to quit claim their interest in the property to Hayes Township subject to several conditions and reservations. The agreement divided the disputed property into three portions: (1) a natural area, (2) a beach area, and (3) the Darnton parcel. Over a portion of the Darnton parcel, the agreement reserved to the Darntons a permanent easement to Lake Charlevoix. Over the other portion of the Darnton parcel, the agreement reserved only a lifetime easement that would also terminate if the Darntons sold or otherwise terminated their interest in the Darnton lots. The 1995 agreement provided that it “shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties and their respective heirs, successors and assigns.” The agreement was recorded in the office of the Charlevoix County Register of Deeds on September 11, 1995. In December 2000, the Darntons executed a quitclaim deed to plaintiff that incorporated the 1995 agreement; it was recorded June 4, 2001.

In 2005, the Darntons’ daughter, Mary Jane Oliver, individually and as the personal representative of her mother’s estate, brought an action under the Land Division Act (LDA), MCL 560.101 et seq., to, among other things, vacate portions of the Pine Point plat consistent with the 1995 agreement. See MCL 560.221 (“The circuit court may, as provided in sections 222 to 229 vacate, correct, or revise all or a part of a recorded plat.”) A consent judgment was entered on August 30, 2006, and an amended consent judgment entered on October 20, 2006. With respect to the property disputed in this case, the amended judgment vacated Beach Drive and awarded the fee in the vacated property to the Darntons and Hayes Township according to the parties’ 1995 agreement, which was specifically ratified and attached as exhibit “C” to the

1 The Subdivision Control Act, 1967 PA 288, became effective January 1, 1968. The Legislature renamed it the Land Division Act, effective March 31, 1997. 1996 PA 591; See MCL 560.101.

-2- judgment. The October 20, 2006, consent judgment was recorded in the office of the Charlevoix County Register of Deeds on October 23, 2006. See MCL 560.228.2

The amended consent judgment also contains a requirement, on which defendants rely, that plaintiffs prepare and file an amended plat according to the terms of the LDA. Paragraph 12 of the amended consent judgment states that the plaintiffs “must prepare and file, within 90 days of this Judgment’s entry, an amended plat” of the various portions of the plat that had been vacated “in accordance with MCL 560.229 and this Judgment.” Paragraph 15 of the amended consent judgment states that “this Judgment will be declared null and void NUNC PRO TUNC should the amended plat not be prepared and filed as required by this Judgment and by the requirements of MCL 560.229[3] within 90 days from entry of this Judgment.” An amended partial plat in accordance with the judgment was prepared on or about May 8, 2007, and recorded in the office of the Charlevoix County Register of Deeds on May 23, 2007.

On December 14, 2011, Mary Jane Oliver, individually and as the personal representative of her mother’s estate, conveyed the Darnton lots to defendants, Robert Fowler and Bridgette Fowler. The warranty deed also conveyed the permanent easement that the Darntons had reserved pursuant to the 1995 agreement with Hayes Township; the deed specifically refers by liber and page to the recorded 1995 agreement. At the time of this transaction, a dock was still situated on that portion of the Darnton parcel under the 1995 agreement over which the Darntons had reserved only a lifetime easement, which would terminate when the Darntons sold or otherwise terminated their interest in the Darnton lots. Steve Andreae, the real estate agent facilitating the sale of the Darnton lots, advised the Fowlers before the conveyance of the property that the existing dock would have to be relocated to the permanent easement over the Darnton parcel.

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Township of Hayes v. Robert Fowler, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/township-of-hayes-v-robert-fowler-michctapp-2015.