Pitts v Bostwick, et al (COA – UNP 7/20/2023; RB #4609)
Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket #361846; Unpublished
Judges Gleicher, Jansen, and Hood; Per Curiam
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not Applicable; Link to Opinion
STATUTORY INDEX:
Not Applicable
TOPICAL INDEX:
Exclusions from Uninsured Motorist Benefits.
SUMMARY:
In this unanimous, unpublished, per curiam decision, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s summary disposition order dismissing Plaintiff Mavis Pitts’s action for uninsured motorist (UM) coverage against Defendant Citizens Insurance Company of the Midwest (“Citizens”). The Court of Appeals held that Pitts was precluded from seeking UM coverage under her policy with Citizens because she failed to comply with the policy’s requirement that any hit-and-run accident be reported to the authorities within 24 hours.
Mavis Pitts was stopped at a yield sign when she was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by Holly Bostwick. Pitts and Bostwick exchanged information following the accident, but neither reported it to police. Pitts eventually retained an attorney who contacted Bostwick’s insurance company regarding the injuries Pitts sustained in the collision, but Bostwick’s insurance company asserted that the collision was actually caused by a hit-and-run driver who rear-ended Bostwick, causing Bostwick to then rear-end Pitts. Pitts later filed suit against Bostwick, and after Bostwick filed a notice of nonparty at fault, the court granted Pitts’s motion to file an amended complaint, add John and Jane Doe as defendants, and add a count for UM coverage against Citizens. In lieu of answering Pitts’s amended complaint, Citizens moved for summary disposition, invoking a provision in Pitts’s policy which stated that, in order to be eligible for UM coverage arising out of a hit-and-run accident, the accident must be reported to authorities within 24 hours. Based on this provision, the trial court granted summary disposition in Citizens’s favor.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s summary disposition order, holding that Pitts was ineligible for UM coverage under her policy. The Court noted that UM coverage is governed entirely by policy language in Michigan, and in this case, “[t]he UM provision in the Citizens’ policy could not be clearer”: in order to be eligible for UM coverage based on a hit-and-run accident, the accident must be reported to authorities within 24 hours. Pitts failed to report her accident within 24 hours, and thus she was ineligible for UM coverage. Pitts’s ultimate argument was that because she was not aware within 24 hours of the accident that a third vehicle was involved, Citizens ought not be allowed to invoke the provision at issue. However, the Court clarified that the provision
“does not require the insured to report that a hit-and-run driver was involved in an accident. Rather, it simply requires that the accident be reported. Pitts knew she was involved in a motor vehicle accident and yet did not report it. The failure to report renders the UIM coverage inapplicable.”
