Property, Lake, and Riparian Law Updates
Discussions on property, water, and lake rights from Attorney Philip L. Ellison at Outside Legal Counsel PLC
Under Michigan law, a person who uses land that actual, visible, open, notorious, hostile, under cover of a claim of right, continuous, and uninterrupted for the statutory period of 15 years can claim a prescriptive easement. Now, it also includes long-term overuse of already existing easement when sustainably undertaken.
Continue reading “A New Twist on the Old Legal Doctrine of Prescriptive Easements”
Ownership of riparian property automatically includes that portion of a lake’s bottomlands known as the riparian or littoral extension. This principle is well established under Michigan property law. A recent Michigan Court of Appeals decision reconfirms the same but added a further clarification.
Continue reading “State Law “Tops” Federal Land Patents in Michigan “Bottoms-lands” Dispute”This office gets calls all the time about the legal rights or prohibitions involving platted parks in subdivisions. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. A new Court of Appeals decision highlights the issue.
Mlive.com has posted a unique story involving water usage in Michigan. For the recent ten year span, Michigan residential and commercial users consumed 38.5 trillion gallons of water from the Great Lakes. In perspective that’s about 59 million Olympic swimming pools. The Great Lakes (not including underground water sources) has about 6,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water.
Big thanks to the continental ice glacier for this sweet quality of life resource. Such a resource provides the legal “riparian” right to extract water for domestic (i.e. household) use.
Interesting, only a tenth of utilized Great Lakes water was for residential or public water supplies while over 85 percent was consumed for, of all things, electricity generation.
But despite the high extraction of water from the Great Lakes, we won’t be running out of water anytime soon. Water levels in 2016 are up from last year’s reduction.
Michigan is blessed in having so many lakes. Minnesota proudly crows it is the land of 10,000 lakes. Michigan has more than 11,000, including a handful of “Great Lakes” with 6 quadrillion gallons of water!
However, one falsity which never seems to be corrected is the notation that the public has the right to walk, stroll, or take an evening constitution around the shore of an inland lake. It just simply is not true.
Continue reading “There Is No Right to Being a “Beach Walker” on an Inland Lake”
After litigating for more than a year, Outside Legal Counsel PLC has re-established deeded-away riparian rights to the shorelands of an inland lake in West Michigan. The court’s ruling paves the way for the landowner to begin enjoying full riparian rights, including maintaining a seasonal dock. Continue reading “OLC Reclaims Riparian Rights for Lake Front Property by Court Decision”
The Court of Appeals in Prince v. Wedemeier has held a distinction between two types of express easements now exists: a prescriptive right by overuse is allowed for one but not the other. Continue reading “An Overused Private Easement Permits for an Adverse Possession Claim”
A question long unanswered under Michigan law is whether the right to the placement of a seasonal dock can be established using the equitable doctrine of prescriptive easement? The answer is yes. Continue reading “Dock Rights May Be Established by Prescriptive Easement”
The Court of Appeals affirmed what we’ve long argued: the plat correction procedures of the Michigan Land Division Act cannot be used to create new property rights.
In Studley v Township of Hill, a lot owner who abuts a privately dedicate 16-foot wide Beachway running from the public Lake Shore Drive to the edge of Rifle Lake. It was only the private access for the backlotters of the Plat of Shady Shores Park Subdivision to access Rifle Lake. Continue reading “The Land Division Act Plat Correction Procedures Cannot Create Nonexisting Property Rights”
The case of O’Brien v Hicks (COA No. 307332) involves one of two parkways located beside Otsego Lake in the Hazel Banks Plat, named “Parkway 6-7.” Continue reading “Rights for Docking By Overusing a Common Easement Fails in Prescription Suit”
