From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Gleason v. Michigan Dept. of Transportation

Michigan Court of Appeals
Mar 20, 2003
256 Mich. App. 1 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003)

Summary

holding that this Court may uphold a trial court's ruling that produced the right result, even if the reasoning for the ruling was incorrect

Summary of this case from Hovey v. Peninsula Twp.

Opinion

No. 235026.

Submitted March 11, 2003, at Grand Rapids.

Decided March 20, 2003, at 9:00 a.m. Updated May 23, 2003.

Appeal from Court of Claims, LC No. 00-017818-CM.

Koernke Crampton, P.C. (by Jeffery S. Crampton), for the plaintiffs.

Michael A. Cox, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, and Raymond O. Howd, Assistant Attorney General, for the defendant.

Before: Schuette, P.J., and Sawyer and Wilder, JJ.


Plaintiffs appeal by leave granted the trial court's grant of defendant's summary-disposition motion under MCR 2.116(C)(7) and (C)(8). We affirm.

Plaintiffs contend that their right to equal protection was violated when the trial court applied a three-year period of limitation to their inverse-condemnation claim against defendant, when inverse-condemnation actions against entities other than the state are subject to at least a six-year limitation period. We disagree. This Court reviews de novo a trial court's ruling on a party's motion for summary disposition. Spiek v Dep't of Transportation, 456 Mich. 331, 337; 572 N.W.2d 201 (1998).

An inverse-condemnation action is a claim ex contractu over which the Court of Claims has exclusive jurisdiction. Lim v Dep't of Transportation, 167 Mich App. 751, 754-755; 423 N.W.2d 343 (1988). Subject to shorter limitation periods contained in other statutes that would supersede the "all-purpose" three-year limitation period set forth in legislation pertaining to the Court of Claims, "[e]very claim against the state, cognizable by the court of claims, shall be forever barred unless the claim is filed . . . within 3 years after the claim first accrues." MCL 600.6452(1).

A statute of limitations is a procedural, not substantive, rule. Forest v Parmalee, 402 Mich. 348, 359; 262 N.W.2d 653 (1978). Procedural requirements will be upheld unless a party demonstrates that "[the requirements] are so harsh and unreasonable in their consequences that they effectively divest plaintiffs of the access to the courts intended by the grant of the substantive right." Id. Plaintiffs made no such demonstration here. Indeed, plaintiffs' substantive right to compensation when private property is taken for public use is wholly unaffected by the procedural requirement that the action be brought within three years of its accrual.

In addition, plaintiffs failed to satisfy their burden of showing that the statutory classifications created by the different limitation periods (inverse-condemnation claims against state entities versus all other inverse-condemnation claims) lacked a rational basis. Forest, supra at 356. Where the classification is reasonably related to a legitimate state interest, there can be no equal-protection violation. Id. Case law repeatedly affirms the reasonable relationship between facilitating the state's ability "to estimate with some degree of certainty the extent of their future financial obligations" and placing a limit on the time during which a plaintiff may bring action against the state. Forest, supra at 360.

Here, plaintiffs filed their complaint on November 27, 2000, more than three years after incurring the $54,900 loss for which they seek compensation from defendant. Therefore, plaintiffs' claim was barred by the three-year limitation period governing actions over which the Court of Claims has jurisdiction. Despite its incorrect application of Hart v Detroit, 416 Mich. 488; 331 N.W.2d 438 (1982), the trial court reached the proper result. A trial court's ruling may be upheld on appeal where the right result issued, albeit for the wrong reason. Mulholland v DEC Int'l Corp, 432 Mich. 395, 411 n 10; 443 N.W.2d 340 (1989).

Our disposition of plaintiffs' appeal on this basis makes it unnecessary to review whether the trial court properly granted defendant's C(8) motion.

Affirmed.


Summaries of

Gleason v. Michigan Dept. of Transportation

Michigan Court of Appeals
Mar 20, 2003
256 Mich. App. 1 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003)

holding that this Court may uphold a trial court's ruling that produced the right result, even if the reasoning for the ruling was incorrect

Summary of this case from Hovey v. Peninsula Twp.

upholding a trial court's ruling where the court reached the right result for the wrong reason

Summary of this case from Reserve At Heritage Vill. Condo. Ass'n v. Warren Fin. Acquisition, LLC

applying the limitations period in MCL 600.6452 to takings claims

Summary of this case from Schafer v. Kent Cnty.

noting that a trial court's ruling may be upheld on appeal in which the right result was issued, albeit for the wrong reason

Summary of this case from Copeland v. Richards

stating that this Court can affirm the trial court ruling as long as the right result was reached

Summary of this case from Spraggins v. Third Judicial Circuit

indicating that this Court will affirm a trial court's correct result, even if the court reached it for the wrong reason

Summary of this case from Ellis v. Monarch Inv. & Mgmt. Grp.

stating that this Court will generally affirm a trial court's decision when it reached the correct result even if it reached it for the wrong reason

Summary of this case from Henry v. Johnson

discussing instances in which a trial court reaches the correct result for an incorrect reason

Summary of this case from Twp. of Barry v. Sw. Barry Cnty. Sewer & Water Auth.
Case details for

Gleason v. Michigan Dept. of Transportation

Case Details

Full title:ROBERT GLEASON and VERONICA GLEASON, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. MICHIGAN…

Court:Michigan Court of Appeals

Date published: Mar 20, 2003

Citations

256 Mich. App. 1 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003)
662 N.W.2d 822

Citing Cases

Herbert v. Detroit Police Dep't

Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's dismissal of this claim because it reached the right result, albeit…

Jones v. City of Walled Lake

As this Court has previously stated, we will affirm a trial court ruling "where the right result issued,…