Court Roundup

Howell
City wins court fight over tall grass near curb

HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan city has won a dispute over a homeowner’s tall grass in a case that went to the second-highest court in the U.S.

A federal appeals court says Howell didn’t violate the rights of a man who was charged $600 for failing to mow grass on a strip near his curb.

In a 2-1 decision Wednesday, the court says David Shoemaker was repeatedly warned that he was responsible for keeping the grass at less than 8 inches long.

The court says Shoemaker owned the strip but Howell still could enforce its grass ordinance because the city has an easement over the same property.

Shoemaker compared Howell to countries run by dictators. In response, the court says the comparison is “almost too outlandish to address.”

Shoemaker sold his home in 2012.

Grand Rapids
Mistrial in assault case against ex-prosecutor

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A mistrial has been declared in the case of a former Kent County assistant prosecutor who authorities say tried to rape a woman on a date.

The Grand Rapids Press reports a juror in the case of Mark R. Vandermolen apparently brought home jury instructions from Kent County Circuit Court and typed questions in a violation of those instructions. A new trial is expected.

Judge Mark Trusock said Thursday the juror “just wasted a week of everyone’s time.” They got the case Wednesday afternoon.

Vandermolen is charged with assault with intent to commit sexual penetration. Prosecutors say he assaulted the woman last year in an attempt to have sex. The defense says the acts were mutual until the woman said no and then Vandermolen stopped and took her home.

Indianapolis
Land owners can’t keep public off Lake Mich. beach

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A man who owns a piece of Indiana’s short stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline and said he had “complete and exclusive ownership” of its beachfront holds no such right and cannot deny the public access to that space, a judge has found.

Long Beach property owner Don Gunderson sued the state of Indiana and the state Department of Natural Resources last year, contending that his lakefront property along Indiana’s 45-mile shoreline extends to the water’s edge in the exclusive community some 30 miles east of Chicago.

Gunderson argued that the deed to that property gave him “complete and exclusive ownership” of its beachfront and that the public had no right to fish, swim, sunbathe or otherwise enjoy those sandy shores.

A LaPorte County judge ruled July 24 against his suit, but his finding — that the public has the right to access that beachfront and by extension the rest of the state’s Lake Michigan beaches — was not released until this week.

Gunderson had argued that Indiana had surrendered the public’s right of access to the Lake Michigan shoreline by excluding it from Indiana code dealing with the preservation of the state’s freshwater lakes.

But LaPorte Superior Court Judge Richard Stalbrink Jr. found that while Indiana had excluded the lake from its code pertaining to the state’s freshwater lakes it “did not surrender the public’s rights” to Lake Michigan’s beachfront. His ruling said private landowners cannot deny the public access to use the beach below its ordinary high-water mark, an area that encompasses much of the beachfront.

“To hold otherwise would invite the creation of a beach landscape dotted with small, private, fenced and fortified compounds designed to deny the public from enjoying Indiana’s limited access to one of the greatest natural resources in this State,” Stalbrink wrote.