Order Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
January 13, 2011 Robert P. Young, Jr.,
Chief Justice
141692 & (81) Michael F. Cavanagh
Marilyn Kelly
Maura D. Corrigan
Stephen J. Markman
CROWN ENTERPRISES INC., Diane M. Hathaway
Plaintiff-Appellant, Mary Beth Kelly,
Justices
v SC: 141692
COA: 286525
Wayne CC: 05-519614-CZ
CITY OF ROMULUS,
Defendant-Appellee,
and
AMERICAN DIESEL TRUCK REPAIR INC.,
RUBEN CHACON, and JUAN MOLINA,
Third Party Defendants.
_________________________________________/
On order of the Court, the motion for miscellaneous relief is GRANTED. The
application for leave to appeal the May 20, 2010 judgment of the Court of Appeals is
considered and, pursuant to MCR 7.302(H)(1), in lieu of granting leave to appeal, we
REVERSE the judgment of the Court of Appeals on the issue of the abandonment of an
easement for the reasons stated in the Court of Appeals concurring opinion and on the
issue of the overburdening of a servient estate. While the Court of Appeals was correct
that the plaintiff’s use of the easement overburdened the servient estate, it provided no
support for the proposition that such an act results in an automatic extinguishing of the
easement right when the owner of the servient estate is not the complaining party.
Therefore, we REINSTATE the decision of the Wayne Circuit Court that the plaintiff had
an easement right in Harrison Road, that the defendant interfered with that right without
notice and an opportunity to be heard and that, as a consequence, the plaintiff’s due
process rights were violated. In addition, we REMAND this case to the Court of Appeals
for consideration of whether the award of attorney fees under 42 USC 1988 was
reasonable under all of the circumstances of this case. In all other respects, leave to
appeal is DENIED, because we are not persuaded that the remaining questions presented
should be reviewed by this Court.
We do not retain jurisdiction.
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 13, 2011 _________________________________________
s0112 Clerk