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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS


PEOPLE OF THE TOWNSHIP OF CLAY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v NELSON EDWARD TEMPLETON, SAINT EDWARDS ORDER, and GLENN PATRICK TEMPLETON, Defendants-Appellants.

UNPUBLISHED November 13, 2007

No. 271082 St. Clair Circuit Court LC No. 04-003061-CZ

Before: Talbot, P.J., and Fitzgerald and Kelly, JJ. PER CURIAM. Defendants appeal as of right from a circuit court order denying their motion for attorney fees and costs under the Right to Farm Act ("RTFA"), MCL 286.471 et seq. We affirm. The RTFA allows a trial court to award attorney fees and costs to a farm or farm operation that prevails in a nuisance action. MCL 286.473b provides: In any nuisance action brought in which a farm or farm operation is alleged to be a nuisance, if the defendant farm or farm operation prevails, the farm or farm operation may recover from the plaintiff the actual amount of costs and expenses determined by the court to have been reasonably incurred by the farm or farm operation in connection with the defense of the action, together with reasonable and actual attorney fees. [Emphases added.] Thus, a farm or farm operation that prevails is not automatically entitled to attorney fees and costs. Rather, it is within the trial court's discretion whether to award such fees and costs. Accordingly, we review the trial court's decision for an abuse of discretion. Windemere Commons I Ass'n v O'Brien, 269 Mich App 681, 682; 713 NW2d 814 (2006). The abuse of discretion standard acknowledges that there may be more than one reasonable and principled outcome. Maldonado v Ford Motor Co, 476 Mich 372, 388; 719 NW2d 809 (2006); People v Babcock, 469 Mich 247, 269; 666 NW2d 231 (2003). An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court's decision is outside the range of reasonable and principled outcomes. Maldonado, supra at 388; Babcock, supra at 269.

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The term "prevails" is not defined in the RTFA and thus must be accorded its plain and ordinary meaning. Koontz v Ameritech Services, Inc, 466 Mich 304, 312; 645 NW2d 34 (2002). Although plaintiff and the trial court applied the definition of "prevailing party" articulated in MCL 600.2591(3)(b), that definition applies to actions or defenses deemed frivolous, and the Legislature specifically stated that that definition applies as that term is used in that section, i.e.,

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