Bergmann v. Michigan State Transportation Commission

OPINION

KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judge.

The district court partially granted Dietrich Bergmann’s motion to enforce a decades-old consent decree concerning some real estate he owned in Detroit. In deciding which portions of the decree are enforceable, however, the court incorrectly looked to Michigan’s statute of limitations, rather than the doctrine of laches. We vacate and remand.

I

In 1979, Dietrich Bergmann bought land in Detroit from the Michigan State Transportation Commission. A decade later, he sued the Commission and the Michigan Department of Transportation (together, the “Department”) under…