Posted: 06.05.2007
Riparian Rights Dispute
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By: Patrick R. Sturdy
In the case of Manufactured House Partners 2, LLC v Village of Stockbridge, the Court of Appeals held that the Village of Stockbridge's release of waste-water from its treatment plant did not amount to an inverse condemnation of Manufactured House's property rights. In this case, Manufactured House is a riparian landowner on Portage Creek. The Village, also a riparian landowner, operates a wastewater treatment facility on its property, resulting in the discharge of pollutants to the creek. Seeking to develop land for residential use, Manufactured House requested a permit to discharge treated effluent into the creek. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality denied the permit, concluding the high effluent levels already in the creek precluded any additional wastewater discharge.
Manufactured House sued the Village alleging claims for trespass-nuisance and inverse condemnation. In reviewing the claim, the Court of Appeals explained that Manufactured House actually was complaining the Village's illegal discharge interfered with Manufactured House's ability to receive permission from the Department of Environmental Quality to release wastewater. The Court of Appeals found that this was not an invasion of property on which Manufactured House could base a trespass-nuisance claim. The Court of Appeals also held the trial court properly dismissed Manufactured House's inverse condemnation case because the alleged interference with Manufactured House's property right was the denial of a permit to dispose of wastewater. The Village was at best, an incidental cause of the denial. The MDEQ, not the Village, precluded Manufactured House from discharging waste.
 
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