153110 - NL Ventures v City of Livonia
Attorney Information
NL
Ventures VI Farmington, LLC,
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Robert M. Riley
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Plaintiff-Appellant,
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v
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(Appeal from Ct of Appeals)
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(Wayne – Allen, D.)
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City of Livonia,
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Michael E. Fisher
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Defendant-Appellee.
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Summary
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The plaintiff leased property to a company that
later went bankrupt. Over time, the company had accrued significant water and
sewer charges owed to the defendant city. The city eventually placed approximately
$900,000 of unpaid water and sewer charges on the ad valorem tax roll as liens against
the plaintiff’s property and sent a tax bill to the plaintiff. The plaintiff filed
suit against the city, alleging that the
liens were not enforceable because the city failed to comply with its own water
rate ordinance. The plaintiff also made other claims in tort and in equity. The
city moved for summary disposition. The trial court held that the liens
were invalid and unenforceable because the city failed to perfect the liens in
accordance with the city ordinance. The trial court ordered the city to remove
the liens from the tax roll and from the plaintiff’s tax bill, and barred the
city from seeking payment of those liens. With regard to the plaintiff’s
remaining claims, the trial court denied summary disposition because there were
questions of fact. The Court of Appeals
reversed, holding that the city was entitled to summary disposition on all of the
plaintiff’s claims. The Supreme Court has directed oral argument on the
following questions: Does 1939 PA 178, MCL 123.161 et seq., which governs municipal water and sewage liens, or the
Revenue Bond Act of 1933, MCL 141.101 et
seq., or any other statute authorize the method by which the city sought to
enforce collection of the disputed liens? If so, is the city prohibited from
collecting the disputed liens because it failed to place them on the tax roll
each year as required by Livonia Ordinance, § 13.08.300?