Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket # 345627; Unpublished
Judges Swartzle, Markey, and Redford; Per curiam
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not Applicable; Link to Opinion
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Determination of Domicile [§3114(1)]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not Applicable
SUMMARY:
In this unanimous unpublished per curiam decision arising out of a priority dispute, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s summary disposition order in favor of the defendants, Central Mutual Insurance Company and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. The Court of Appeals determined that the trial court did not err when it concluded that Brent Hannahs was domiciled with his grandmother at the time of the subject motor vehicle collision, and that Home-Owners—his grandmother’s automobile insurer— was therefore the responsible insurer for paying all of Hannahs’s no-fault PIP benefits pursuant to MCL 500.3114(1).
Brent Hannahs was severely injured and later died as a result of being struck by a Shroyer Development Corporation tow truck while riding his bicycle. At the time of the collision, Hannahs was living with his grandmother, Merna Rasmussen, with whom he had been living for approximately two months. Rasmussen was insured with Home-Owners, which sued for declaratory judgment and damages after the collision, alleging that Hannahs lacked domicile at Rasmussen’s residence and that it was not statutorily obligated to pay Brent’s PIP benefits. Rather, Home-Owners alleged, either Central Mutual, Shroyer’s insurer, Liberty Mutual, Hannahs’s father’s insurer, or State Farm, Hannahs’s mother’s insurer, was obligated to pay Hannahs’s PIP benefits, and to reimburse Home-Owners for those it had already paid. Home-Owners and State Farm eventually stipulated to State Farm’s dismissal with prejudice, and the remaining insurers each moved for summary disposition, which the trial court granted in favor of Central mutual and Liberty Mutual.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s summary disposition order, relying on the factors laid out in Workman v. Detroit Auto. Inter.-Ins. Exch., 404 Mich 477 (1979) and Dairyland Ins. Co. v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co., 123 Mich. App. 675 (1983) for determining domicile. Based on the evidence, the Court of Appeals concluded that the trial court did not err in ruling, as a matter of law, that Brent was domiciled at Rasmussen’s home at the time of the collision.
Home-Owners argues that Brent merely resided but never domiciled at Rasmussen’s house. This argument lacks merit. The evidence in this case does not support Home-Owners’ contention. Rather, the evidence establishes that Brent chose to move in with Rasmussen and through his actions and conversations with her indicated his intent to affix his abode at her house and remain with her indefinitely and for an unlimited length of time. He returned to Rasmussen’s house every night for the two and a half months he lived there, had all of his personal belongings there, and had nowhere else to go. Brent could not legitimately call Clint’s house home, nor did any evidence support that he ever intended to remain domiciled at that house since he became an adult. The trial court, therefore, did not err by ruling that, as a matter of law, Brent domiciled at Rasmussen’s house at the time of his accident and that Home-Owners had the obligation to pay his PIP benefits.
