Cheboygan County Road Commission v. Auto-Owners Insurance

The Cheboygan County Road Commission stored a quantity of salt on property which it owned in the Indian River area. The salt was owned by the State Highway Department. Salt seeped into the ground water and contaminated the water supply of several persons in the vicinity. The highway department and the road commission agreed to divide equally the cost of drilling new wells for the affected residents. At the date of trial the cost of such drilling totalled $30,911.95. The road commission sought to recover half of this amount from the defendant pursuant to a contract of insurance. After a bench…