Michigan § 600.2940 - Nuisance; abatement; circuit court; injunction; private nuisance; damages; warrant to abate and remove nuisance; expense; actions.

All claims based on or to abate nuisance may be brought in the circuit court. The circuit court may grant injunctions to stay and prevent nuisance.

When the plaintiff prevails on a claim based on a private nuisance, he may have judgment for damages and may have judgment that the nuisance be abated and removed unless the judge finds that the abatement of the nuisance is unnecessary.

If the judgment is that the nuisance shall be abated, the court may issue a warrant to the proper officer, requiring him to abate and remove the nuisance at the expense of the defendant, in the manner that public nuisances are abated and removed. The court may stay the warrant for as long as 6 months to give the defendant an opportunity to remove the nuisance, upon the defendant giving satisfactory security to do so.

The expense of abating and removing the nuisance pursuant to such warrant, shall be collected by the officer in the same manner as damages and costs are collected upon execution, excepting that the materials of any buildings, fences, or other things that may be removed as a nuisance, may be sold by the officer, in like manner as goods are sold on execution for the payment of debts. The officer may apply the proceeds of such sale to defray the expenses of the removal, and shall pay over the balance thereof, if any, to the defendant upon demand. If the proceeds of the sale are not sufficient to defray the said expenses, he shall collect the residue thereof as before provided.

Actions under this section are equitable in nature unless only money damages are claimed.