In Howard v Glenn Haven Shores Association, Unpublished Court of Appeals Case No. 340174 (Decided July 26, 2018), plaintiffs owned property on Lake Michigan adjacent to property owned and maintained by the Defendant Association. The Association property at issue consists of a bluff that has been eroding and taking away parts of plaintiffs’ lots in the process. As a result, plaintiffs brought a negligence and nuisance action against the Association alleging that the Association owed them a duty to take steps to prevent the erosion.The trial court disagreed and granted summary disposition in favor of the Association finding that the Association did not have a duty to prevent erosion on plaintiffs’ adjacent properties. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s ruling in favor of the Association, but also found that the Association’s duty under tort law included “refraining from engaging in negligent conduct that diverts or increases the natural flow of surface water so as to cause erosion of plaintiffs’ lots beyond any erosion that would have occurred as a result of the natural flow of surface water.”
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