Embattled Brighton Homeowners Plan U.S. Supreme Court AppealEmbattled Brighton Homeowners Plan U.S. Supreme Court Appeal

4/30/14 - An attorney representing an elderly couple who own two homes the City of Brighton wants torn down is appealing a recent court decision to the highest in the land. Leon and Marilyn Bonner own two homes on North Street that the city ordered demolished in January of 2009 on the basis that they pose a danger to public health and safety. They sued the city over an ordinance which requires the demolition of unsafe homes whose value is less than the cost of repairing them. The state Court of Appeals issued a decision late last year and ruled portions of the city ordinance violated due process. However, the Michigan Supreme Court just recently issued a unanimous opinion overturning that decision. The Bonners’ attorney, Dennis Dubuc, says they have always wanted to fix the homes and have the funds to do so, questioning the rationality of an ordinance that prevents repairs to a home deemed dangerous. He tells WHMI the court did not make a decision as to whether or not the Bonners’ constitutional rights had been violated, just that the City’s ordinance is constitutional on its face. He says if allowed to stand, that decision would be far reaching and precedent setting, so he’s appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. Dubuc says Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hatty could stay local proceedings until the Michigan Court of Appeals rules on a myriad of other pending issues, including if the Bonners lost their non-conforming use of the property as residential and whether or not they should have been issued permits for repairs. Attorney Paul Burns, in representing the city, has consistently maintained the homes are not safe and should be demolished. Dubuc says the City notice the Bonners received in 2009 stating the homes were dangerous and had to come down was the first and only ever received over the course of 35 years. He says despite paying taxes and utility bills as well as cutting the grass, the Bonners were prevented from living in the homes for all those years because the City unlawfully turned off the water and has never turned it back on, despite a court opinion to do so.(JM)