Slander of title statute of limitations; MCL 600.5801; Adams v Adams; Slander of title malice; MCL 600.2907a; Wells Fargo Bank v Country Place Condo Ass’n; Attorney fees & costs; Reasonableness; MCL 565.108; Smith v Khouri

The court held that the statute of limitations for a quiet title action had expired long before defendant recorded a claim of interest against plaintiff’s property and that defendant’s conduct supported slander of title liability, while only those attorney fees and costs arising from the recording itself were recoverable. Plaintiff, the limited partnership that had held record title and collected rents for over twenty years, sued defendant for slander of title after he recorded a claim of interest in 2017. The trial court granted partial summary disposition, later finding malice and awarding nearly three hundred thousand dollars in fees and costs. On appeal, the court held that any action to challenge the 2002 deed from the trust accrued when the trust was “disseised” upon recording and that recording gave defendant constructive notice, so by 2017 “the statute of limitations had expired as to any action” he might have brought. The court also found malice where defendant, who had long challenged his share of family wealth, chose to cloud title rather than file a quiet title action and his conduct “can only be interpreted as an attempt to put pressure” on plaintiff and a family trustee. Finally, the court concluded that the trial court effectively applied the required fee factors and that most fees and costs were proper under MCL 565.108, but it erred by including pre-11/1/17 work and a $102 Delaware filing. Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded for recalculation of damages. The court retained jurisdiciton.