Case Name: MARCONERI v. VILLAGE OF MANCELONA
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1983-03-21
Citations: 124 Mich. App. 286
Docket Number: Docket No. 58488
Parties: MARCONERI v VILLAGE OF MANCELONA
Judges: Before: R. B. Burns, P.J., and Beasley and M. B. Breighner, JJ.
Reporter: Michigan appeals reports; cases decided in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Volume: 124
Pages: 286–290

Head Matter:
MARCONERI v VILLAGE OF MANCELONA
Docket No. 58488.
Submitted December 8, 1982, at Grand Rapids.—
Decided March 21, 1983.
Leave to appeal applied for.
Plaintiffs, Vito and Neva A. Marconeri, are owners of property adjacent to an office of defendant Antrim County State Bank. Defendant Village of Mancelona approved plans of defendant bank to construct a 34-foot curb cut to accommodate a drive-in window. The village ordinances require that a curb cut be 10 to 25 feet and had not been amended. Plaintiffs brought an action for an injunction in the Antrim Circuit Court, which denied relief, William R. Brown, J. Plaintiffs appealed. Held:
An injunction which will be ineffectual should not be granted. The relief requested, that the driveway be 25 feet or less, would not prevent the type of harm or injury plaintiffs allege as an element of their cause of action. In fact, it would increase it.
Affirmed.
Beasley, J., dissented. He would hold that the relief should be granted because neither the bank nor the village have a right to violate village ordinances but would give the village an adequate time to properly amend the ordinance.
Opinion of the Court
1. Injunctions — Remedies.
An injunction which will be ineffectual should not he granted.
Dissent by Beasley, J.
2. Injunctions — Villages.
Injunction is a proper remedy to enforce compliance with a village ordinance.
References for Points in Headnotes
42 Am Jur 2d, Injunctions § 40.
42 Am Jur 2d, Injunctions § 189.
Stanley E. Brake, P.C., for plaintiffs._
Alton T. Davis, for defendant Village of Mancelona.
Murchie, Calcutt & Sondee (by Jack E. Boynton), for defendant Antrim County State Bank.
Before: R. B. Burns, P.J., and Beasley and M. B. Breighner, JJ.
Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.

Opinion:
R. B. Burns, P.J.
Plaintiffs appeal from a judgment which declined to grant injunctive relief to plaintiffs because they had failed to demonstrate harm. Plaintiffs, owners of property adjacent to defendant bank, sought a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction enjoining the bank from constructing a driveway for a drive-in window over a sidewalk running in front of their properties. The defendant village approved these plans, even though the proposed plans would require a curb cut of 34 feet. The width of this curb cut violates Chapter 4001-9 of the Mancelona Village Ordinance Code, which provides: "No single curb cut shall exceed twenty-five (25) feet nor be less than ten (10) feet." The driveway was completed one year before the case went to trial.
Despite their pleadings and claims of unsafe pedestrian conditions due to the length of the curb cut, plaintiffs' primary complaint seems to be with the increased street traffic due to the bank's drive-in window. This window backs up traffic on the street running in front of their businesses, blocking both pedestrian and vehicle ingress and egress to plaintiffs' business.
Injunctive relief is equitable in nature. In equity cases, this Court's review of the record is de novo with due deference being given to the findings of the trial court. This Court will sustain those find ings unless its ruling would have been contrary to that of the trial court. Cascade Twp v Cascade Resource Recovery, Inc, 118 Mich App 580; 325 NW2d 500 (1982). Further, an ineffectual injunction will not be granted. See Three Lakes Ass'n v Kessler, 91 Mich App 371; 285 NW2d 300 (1979).
In the present case, requiring the driveway to be 25 feet in width or less will only compound plaintiffs' problems, not solve them. Should this Court require the bank to decrease the width of their drive, by enjoining the use of the wider drive, it would either decrease the number of windows available or the number of spots available to cars lining up to use these windows. Thus, the ultimate effect of the injunction and subsequent narrowing of the driveway would be to increase the blockage of the street, both in duration and occurrence. The other alternative, requiring the bank to route traffic onto the street, would clearly be hazardous to pedestrian traffic. This solution would create a blind spot because of the corner of the bank which would prevent drivers, as well as pedestrians, from anticipating the presence of danger.
Unquestionably, this Court could require the bank to go through the necessary procedure to obtain a curb-cut permit. Further, it could require that this cut be less than 25 feet in width. By doing this, however, this Court would not prevent that type of danger or harm which plaintiffs are alleging they have suffered. Under these circumstances, an injunction should not be issued. See, e.g., Dutch Cookie Machine Co v Vande Vrede, 289 Mich 272; 286 NW 612 (1939).
Accordingly, the trial court's refusal to grant plaintiffs' injunction is affirmed.
M. B. Breighner, J., concurred.