Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket No. 56233; Unpublished
Judges R. B. Burns, Walsh, and MacKenzie; Unanimous
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not Applicable; Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Entitlement to PIP Benefits: Arising Out of / Causation Requirement [§3105(1)]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not Applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
In this unanimous opinion, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and awarded no-fault benefits to a plaintiff who was injured while riding on an inner tube which was being towed by a rope by a motor vehicle down a road. As the vehicle was driving down the road, the inner tube was swerving from side to side, went up over a bank of plowed snow, flipped over and caused injury to the plaintiff.
The Court held that under §3105(1) a sufficient causal connection between the injury and the operation of the motor vehicle was established. The Court noted that in this case, "The motor vehicle itself was the instrumentality of the plaintiff’s injury." The fact that it may not have been contemplated that the operator of the motor vehicle would pull someone in an inner tube over a snow covered road, or the fact that such conduct was illegal, is no defense to coverage under the Act. Therefore, plaintiff established the requisite causal nexus to recover benefits.