Court Opinion

ID: 9717328
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:01:53.365274+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:52.608923
License: Public Domain

P. R. Joslyn, J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent. The Legislature has the power to limit the period in which a cause of action may be brought. The Legislature has determined that the proper period in this case is three years. MCL 600.5805(8); MSA 27A.5805(8). The Legislature has further expressly provided the time at which a cause of action begins. A cause of action for negligent *401construction does not accrue when it is discovered by incurring a debt for repairs. A cause of action for negligent construction accrues "at the time the wrong upon which the claim is based was done regardless of the time when damage results”. MCL 600.5827; MSA 27A.5827.
Plaintiffs claim damages as a result of the negligent construction of the footings to the house they purchased in 1977. The claimed negligence is the pouring or installation of the footings, apparently underneath the fireplace and chimney. Plaintiffs allege that the footings were only 24" below grade and should have been installed at 48" below grade, and that as a result of the defendant’s negligent installation of the footings in 1966 the fireplace and chimney have been replaced and other damage to the dwelling has occurred and may continue into the future.
The trial court granted defendant’s motion for accelerated judgment holding that the action was time barred and that the cause of action accrued when the footings were installed. The circuit court affirmed. It is my opinion that the granting of the motion for accelerated judgment was correct and should be affirmed.
The purpose of legislation rendering stale claims unenforceable is to protect the fact-finding process from risk of error in making decisions on the merits. Faulty decisions occur from the difficulty of obtaining reliable evidence of events and circumstances which prevailed in the remote past. Decisions which are based upon stale claims will result in the reduction of the validity of the result. Facts presented from more recent transactions are generally more reliable than facts presented from more remote times. The two opinions that hold that a cause of action accrues when damage re-*402suits or when all the elements of a cause of action exist or when the injury or damages are discovered or could be discovered do nothing to control the floodgates of the ever-increasing flow to the over-saturated fact-finding process. There are many other policy considerations for controlling access to the courts of this state,
No one suffered any injury to their person on this claim, therefore, Connelly v Paul Ruddy's Equipment Repair & Service Co, 388 Mich 146; 200 NW2d 70 (1972), does not apply. It is easy to see that a cause of action could be pled and filed by any interested party the day the forms were removed from the footings. A more correct interpretation of the statute on an injury to property is reflected in Cree Coaches, Inc v Panel Suppliers, Inc, 23 Mich App 67; 178 NW2d 101 (1970), and H Hirschfield Sons Co v Colt Industries Operating Corp, 107 Mich App 720; 309 NW2d 714 (1981).