Rule 3.411.Civil Action to Determine Interests in Land

MCR 3.411 is Michigan's quiet title procedure. It applies to actions to determine interests in land under MCL 600.2932 and does not apply to summary proceedings to recover possession of premises under MCL 600.5701-600.5759. The rule covers how the case is pleaded, how each side discloses its paper title, and what happens after the court decides who holds title.

Pleading the land and the claims

Subrule (B)(1) requires the complaint to describe the land with reasonable certainty by section, township, and range; by block and lot number; or by another description clear enough that the premises may be identified. Subrule (B)(2) requires the complaint to allege the interest the plaintiff claims, the interest the defendant claims, and the facts establishing the superiority of the plaintiff's claim.

Written evidence of title

Subrule (C) puts teeth in disclosure. Written evidence of title may not be introduced at trial unless it has been sufficiently referred to in the pleadings. The plaintiff attaches to the complaint, and the defendant to the answer, a statement of the title relied on, showing from whom the title was obtained and the page and book where it appears of record. After a demand, a party has a reasonable time to furnish a copy of an unrecorded conveyance relied on or to give a satisfactory reason for not doing so.

Findings on title

Under subrule (D)(1) the court makes findings determining the disputed rights in and title to the premises after evidence has been taken. Subrule (D)(2) reaches a party out of possession whose right to possession existed when the action was commenced but expired before trial: that party proves the damages sustained because the premises were wrongfully withheld, and the court enters judgment in the amount proved.

Two claims, both within 28 days

Subrules (E) and (F) open a second phase, each triggered within 28 days after the finding of title.

• Subrule (E) lets the party found to have title claim the reasonable value of the use of the premises against the party who withheld possession, for the period they were withheld, beginning 6 years before the action was commenced. The value is measured generally, in the condition the premises were in when the withholding party first went into possession, without counting buildings or improvements that party added.
• Subrule (F) lets a party claim the amount by which the present value of the premises has been increased by buildings erected or improvements made by that party or those through whom the party claims. Improvements made in bad faith are not recoverable.

The election

Subrule (G) gives the person found to have title a choice, filed within 28 days after the findings on the improvements claim. That person may abandon the premises to the improver and take a judgment, a lien against the premises, for what they would have been worth at trial unimproved. Otherwise the judgment awards the premises and requires payment of the improvement value to the clerk within the time set. A title holder not already in possession must pay that amount plus accrued interest before taking possession under the judgment, and failure to pay within the time set is deemed abandonment of all claim of title to the parties in whose favor the improvement judgment runs.

Reach of the judgment

Except for title acquired by adverse possession, subrule (H) limits the judgment to the rights of the known and unknown persons who are parties and those claiming through them by title accruing after the action was commenced. Subrule (I) protects possession: vacating the judgment and granting a new trial does not affect a party's right to possession until a contrary judgment is rendered.