Court Opinion

ID: 9670411
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:20:00.802902+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:42:32.235056
License: Public Domain

Judge Walsh
dissented, stating that the trial judge’s ruling should be affirmed because there was no question that the tree was ten feet from the pavement edge, off of the shoulder. 129 Mich App 601. Thereafter, the majority reversed itself and adopted Judge Walsh’s dissent as the majority opinion. Moerman v Kalamazoo Co Rd Comm (On Rehearing), 141 Mich App 154; 366 NW2d 223 (1984).
It appears that the rule from Moerman is that trees that are so close to the shoulder of the road that they might be hazardous to passing motorists but which do not encroach on the shoulder would not give rise to a duty on the part of the state or the county road commissions.
In Anderson v Macomb Co Rd Comm, supra, the plaintiff was permanently paralyzed from the neck down when the vehicle in which she was a passenger skipped the curb and struck a utility pole located two feet from the curb. This Court held that the utility pole was not on the improved portion of the highway, and thus that the road commission’s motion for summary disposition was properly granted. Significantly, the Court distinguished McKee v Dep’t of Transportation, 132 Mich App 714; 349 NW2d 798 (1984), also a utility *125pole case, on the basis that the pole there actually encroached on the narrow shoulder of the road.
On the strength of these cases, we conclude that defendant’s duty in the present case extended only to the improved portion of the highway and not to the hedge obstruction located on private property. Our conclusion is buttressed by MCL 239.5; MSA 9.525 which provides that it is the duty of every land owner to trim hedges that are growing along a public highway to a height not exceeding 4 Vi feet. We believe that this statute evidences the Legislature’s intent that liability for hedges that obstruct a motorist’s vision should rest with the private landowner, not with the state or the county road commissions.
Cryderman v Soo Line R Co, 78 Mich App 465; 260 NW2d 135 (1977), and Miller v Oakland Co Rd Comm, 43 Mich App 215; 204 NW2d 141 (1972), cited by plaintiff, are inapposite. In Cryderman, this Court found that the duty to maintain highways reasonably safe and fit extended to "clear vision areas which lie beyond the improved portions of the highway proper.” 78 Mich App 476. However, the duty in that case arose by statute as MCL 469.6; MSA 22.766 and MCL 469.7; MSA 22.767 provided for the removal of vision obstructions at railroad crossings. As the present case does not involve a railroad crossing, Cryderman is not applicable.
In Miller, the plaintiff was injured when a tree fell and struck her vehicle as she was driving along a county road. This Court held that the plaintiffs complaint was improperly dismissed in the face of the plaintiffs allegations that the defendant road commission had been warned by local residents of the dangers of falling trees in the area. This Court held that the plaintiffs allegations that the tree that struck her was along the *126county road and that the defendant road commission knew of the dangers of falling trees was sufficient to state a cause of action in negligence. 43 Mich App 219. The case does not stand for the proposition, as alleged by plaintiff, that the location of the tree in that case was irrelevant.
The trial judge’s ruling granting defendant’s motion for summary disposition is affirmed.