Order Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
May 19, 2006 Clifford W. Taylor,
Chief Justice
129672 Michael F. Cavanagh
Elizabeth A. Weaver
Marilyn Kelly
Maura D. Corrigan
ALFRED VILLADSEN, DONALD Robert P. Young, Jr.
VILLADSEN, MARILYN VILLADSEN, Stephen J. Markman,
Justices
and JACK MICKEVICH,
Plaintiffs/Third-Party
Defendants-Appellants,
v SC: 129672
COA: 255955
Mason CC: 02-000348-CH
MASON COUNTY ROAD COMMISSION,
Defendant/Third-Party
Plaintiff-Appellee,
and
SHERMAN TOWNSHIP,
Defendant/Third-Party
Plaintiff,
and
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL
RESOURCES and MASON COUNTY
DRAIN COMMISSIONER,
Third-Party Defendants.
_________________________________________/
On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the July 19, 2005
judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered and, pursuant to MCR 7.302(G)(1), in
lieu of granting leave to appeal, we AFFIRM the decisions of the Court of Appeals and
the Mason Circuit Court but do so for reasons other than those stated by the Court of
Appeals. The evidence shows that the strip of land at issue was, and is, one portion of a
road that was an established public road by the 1930s. There is no dispute that the road
had long existed by then. There is evidence of township ownership as early as the early
1900s. The road runs in a fairly straight fashion for approximately 20 miles, and runs
along a section line for the approximately one mile that it traverses or crosses plaintiffs’
properties. An aerial photograph from the 1930s shows the course of the road, and there
is evidence of a 1915 deed conveying to the township, “for highway purposes,”
2
approximately one-half of the strip of road presently in dispute. The parties and the lower
courts were unnecessarily concerned with evidence regarding use and maintenance of the
road after the time when it is clear a public road had already been established. The
highway-by-user statute, MCL 221.20, allows public highways to be established under a
theory of implied dedication. City of Kentwood v Sommerdyke Estate, 458 Mich 642,
650-656 (1998). The evidence pertaining to the use and partial disrepair of the road after
the public road was established was irrelevant to whether a highway by user was
established.
CAVANAGH and KELLY, JJ., would grant leave to appeal.
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 19, 2006 _________________________________________
d0516 Clerk