Order Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
May 29, 2009 Marilyn Kelly,
Chief Justice
138314-5 Michael F. Cavanagh
Elizabeth A. Weaver
WOLVERINE COMMERCE, L.L.C., Maura D. Corrigan
Robert P. Young, Jr.
Plaintiff-Appellant, Stephen J. Markman
v SC: 138314-5 Diane M. Hathaway,
COA: 278417, 282532 Justices
Washtenaw CC: 05-000321-CH
PITTSFIELD CHARTER TOWNSHIP,
Defendant-Appellee.
_________________________________________/
On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the November 20, 2008
judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered and, pursuant to MCR 7.302(G)(1), in
lieu of granting leave to appeal, we REVERSE the judgment of the Court of Appeals and
REINSTATE the judgment of the Washtenaw Circuit Court. The Court of Appeals failed
to accord due weight to the findings of the Washtenaw Circuit Court, which were not
clearly erroneous. See Kropf v Sterling Hts, 391 Mich 139, 163 (1974).
Further, the Court of Appeals erred in precluding relief based on the “self-imposed
hardship rule.” The self-imposed hardship rule applies to preclude relief in taking claims
asserted by a property owner who has subdivided or physically altered the land so as to
render it unfit for the uses for which it is zoned, not to cases in which the legal status of
the property has been altered. See, e.g., Johnson v Robinson Twp, 420 Mich 115, 117
(1984); Bierman v Taymouth Twp, 147 Mich App 499, 506 (1985), lv den 425 Mich 869
(1986). Rather, a plaintiff who purchases property with knowledge of existing zoning
regulations takes the property along with the seller’s legal right to challenge those
regulations. Kropf, supra, 391 Mich at 152. There is no legal precedent to extend the
self-imposed hardship rule to prevent a plaintiff who personally sought to conform the
property’s zoning classification to the municipality’s master plan in the first instance
from later seeking, in good faith, to rezone the property to another classification to allow
a different use.
MARKMAN, J., would grant leave to appeal to consider the Court of Appeals’
application of the “self-created hardship” doctrine, Johnson v Robinson Twp, 420 Mich
115 (1984).
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.
May 29, 2009 _________________________________________
p0526 Clerk