MILTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Stephen and Deborah Gmeiner own property in Antrim County on the western shore of Torch Lake. It has a small wetland on it.

They wanted to create a six-foot wide path from their property to the beach that navigated the wetland.

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That project has landed them in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in a battle with the state of Michigan.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) denied a permit to create the path. The couple appealed and an administrative judge overruled EGLE.

The state agreed to issue the permit if the couple were to “hold harmless” the state of Michigan and its agencies from all claims of action in connection with the permit being approved.

The attorney for the couple said they were not evading regulations, but objected to agreeing to an “open-ended legal and financial responsibility for future claims, including litigation.”

The couple’s attorney said the law has no stipulation that private landowners indemnify the state as a condition of getting a wetlands permit.

The state, according to the appellant brief, claimed that their demand was “standard” and would not be altered.

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That led to the federal court case.

“This case is fundamentally about the limits of government power,” said Philip L. Ellison, attorney with Outside Legal Counsel PLC, who is representing the Gmeiners, in a statement. “These property owners secured their permit through the administrative process. For a state official to then dangle it like a carrot, demanding they assume unlimited liability not required by statute, is effectively extortion.”

EGLE said it was ongoing litigation in an email and referred questions to the attorney general’s office.