Elevated Lake Level Damages -- Time for Bringing Claim is 3 Years, Michigan Court of Appeals Rules

A lawsuit brought by plaintiffs claiming that defendants flooded their property and caused trees to die by wrongfully raising the level of a lake, and seeking money damages under theories of negligence, negligence per se, nuisance, trespass, and civil conspiracy, should have dismissed under a three-year statute of limitations ruled the Michigan Court of Appeals in a recent published decision.

In Terlecki v Silver Lake Property Ass'n of Indian River, ___ Mich App ___ (2008); plaintiffs complained that defendants caused Silver Lake in Cheboygan County to rise, flooding plaintiffs’ low-lying forested property. The defendants' actions, however, occurred more than three years before the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit. The Court of Appeals concluded that "the plain text of MCL 600.5805(10) and MCL 600.5827 bar plaintiffs’ claim for money damages under any of plaintiffs’ liability theories."

Click here for the full text of the opinion.