Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket No. 58608; Published
Judges R. B. Burns, MacKenzie, and Root; Unanimous
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: 120 Mich App 522; Link to Opinion
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Calculation of Survivor’s Loss Benefits and Maximums [§3108(1)]
Standards for Deductibility of State and Federal Governmental Benefits [§3109(1)]
Social Security Survivor’s Benefits [§3109(1)]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not Applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
This decision was the result of a remand in Moshier v Financial Indemnity, item number 235, which had held that replacement service expenses under the survivor's loss provisions of §3108 were limited to $20 per day for all dependents in aggregate and not individually and also held that the maximum monthly limitation on survivor's loss benefits applied to the replacement service expenses as well as the loss of support component.
In this second appellate case, the issue was whether or not subsequent increases in social security payments to plaintiff could be taken into consideration in computing the offset of governmental benefits under §3109(1) of the Act. The Court of Appeals held that such subsequent increases should be taken into account inasmuch as "the plain language of the statute allows the defendant to offset the full amount of social security benefits paid to plaintiff." The plaintiff is not permitted to receive more than the monthly maximum in combined social security and survivor's loss benefits.