Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket #255492; Unpublished
Judges Murphy, Sawyer, and Meter; unanimous; per curiam
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not applicable, Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Not applicable
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Uninsured Motorist Benefits: Exclusions from Uninsured Motorist Benefits
CASE SUMMARY:
In this unanimous unpublished per curiam opinion, the Court of Appeals found the trial court erred in allowing plaintiff to recover underinsured motorist benefits from Farmers Insurance Exchange where she had previously obtained uninsured motorist benefits from Allstate Insurance, which insured the vehicle in which she was a passenger. The uninsured motorist coverage in the Farmers Insurance policy contained an exclusion which states:
“This coverage does not apply to bodily injury sustained by a person:
* * *
4. If the injured person was occupying a vehicle you do not own which is insured for this coverage under another policy.”
(emphasis added)
In this case, plaintiff obtained recovery of uninsured motorist benefits from Allstate Insurance based upon the fact the vehicle in which plaintiff was a passenger was insured by Allstate, and that vehicle was struck by another vehicle, the driver of which could not be identified. Plaintiff received the full amount of the Allstate uninsured motorist benefits under that policy and then sought underinsured motorist benefits from her own policy with Farmers Insurance Exchange. Farmers relied upon its exclusion and denied the claim.
In reversing the trial court denial of Farmers’ motion for partial summary disposition, the court found the exclusion did apply and that although plaintiff was claiming entitlement to underinsured benefits, it was not possible to determine whether the vehicle that caused the accident was underinsured because it left the scene of the accident without being identified. Therefore, benefits in conjunction with the underinsured motorist definition were not available to plaintiffs. Since the exclusion for uninsured motorist benefits applies and since plaintiff had already collected the full amount of uninsured motorist benefits from Allstate, the insurer of the vehicle in which she was a passenger, the trial court erred in denying Farmers’ motion for summary disposition.
