Wayne County Circuit Court; Docket No. 78-806-616 CK; Unpublished
Circuit Judge Charles S. Farmer; Written Opinion
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not Applicable; Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Exclusion for Vehicles Considered Parked [§3106(1)]
Exception for Occupying [§3106(1)(c)]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not Applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
Circuit Judge Charles S. Farmer, in a written opinion, held that a passenger who had temporarily exited a motor vehicle after it had been involved in a minor accident and was then on her way to reentering the vehicle when she was struck by a high speed hit and run motorist, was to be construed as an "occupant" of the vehicle that she had been riding in and, thus, entitled to claim no-fault benefits as an "occupant" of that vehicle. In so holding, Judge Farmer focused on the following factors: (1) the immediate relationship that plaintiff had as a passenger with the vehicle, (2) the reasonable geographic parameters of her walk from and back to reenter the vehicle, (3) the commission of all acts normally performed by a passenger getting out and away of getting in vehicles under similar and exigent circumstances, (4) her acts and conduct reasonably incident to being a passenger in a vehicle that was then involved in an accident, and (5) the intention to return and reenter as a passenger to her former vehicle within three to five minutes.