Opinion ID: 848707
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: the legislature's intent

Text: While the majority contends that its decision is dictated by the words used by the Legislature, the majority conveniently discounts and ignores facts that are contrary to its opinion. Notably, the RUA is found in the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, MCL 324.101 et seq., the purpose of which is to protect the environment and natural resources of the state.... 1994 PA 451. Other sections of the act deal with forest and mineral resource development, MCL 324.701 et seq.; use of water in mining low-grade iron ore, MCL 324.3501 et seq.; sand dune protection and management, MCL 324.35301 et seq.; and state forest recreation, MCL 324.83101 et seq., to name just a few. It is highly unlikely that an urban residential backyard was among the state's natural resources considered in the RUA. Further, the doctrine of ejusdem generis also supports the conclusion reached in Wymer and confirms the folly of the majority's interpretation. This Court explained the doctrine in Sands Appliance Servs., Inc. v. Wilson, 463 Mich. 231, 242, 615 N.W.2d 241 (2000): [Ejusdem generis] is a rule whereby in a statute in which general words follow a designation of particular subjects, the meaning of the general words will ordinarily be presumed to be and construed as restricted by the particular designation and as including only things of the same kind, class, character or nature as those specifically enumerated. [Quoting People v. Brown, 406 Mich. 215, 221, 277 N.W.2d 155 (1979).] The RUA refers to fishing, hunting, trapping, camping, hiking, sightseeing, motorcycling, snowmobiling, or any other outdoor recreational use or trail use.... MCL 324.73301(1). The activities described in the statute are all activities that take place on large, undeveloped tracts of land. With the exception of house hunting, bargain hunting, and the occasional actions of Elmer Fudd in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, hunting is an activity that is actually prohibited in urban and suburban neighborhoods. When the Legislature wrote about snowmobiling, it is doubtful that it was referring to riding a snowmobile back and forth in a residential backyard like a duck at a carnival shooting game. The fact that the Legislature listed activities that can only be accomplished on large, undeveloped tracts of land indicates that it did not intend for the statute to cover residential lawns. [2] Finally, in support of its conclusion that § 73301(1) applies to all land, the majority states that the Legislature could have used the words `vacant or undeveloped land of another' in § 73301(1) if the RUA was only meant to apply to vast areas of land. Ante at 650. This, however, ignores the fact that the Legislature has shown in § 73301(2) that it knows how to use clear wording when it wants the statute to apply to all land. In § 73301(2) of the statute, the Legislature used the phrasing land of any size including, but not limited to, urban, suburban, subdivided, and rural land. The majority even admits that this is a clear indication of the Legislature's intent for § 73301(2) to apply to land of any size. Ante at 652 n. 11. If the Legislature meant for both subsections of the statute to apply to all land of any size, then it would not have chosen to use different phrasing to mean the exact same thing.