Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket #257348; Unpublished
Judges Bandstra, White, and Fort Hood; unanimous; per curiam
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not applicable, Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
One-Year Back Rule Limitation [3145(1)]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
In this unanimous unpublished per curiam opinion, the Court of Appeals reversed summary disposition in favor of the third-party plaintiff in this dispute over payment of insurance benefits.
The third-party plaintiff, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, mistakenly provided the injured party no-fault insurance benefits. After it discovered the mistake two years later, it filed a claim against defendant, Michigan Millers Insurance Company. In reversing, the Court of Appeals explained that under MCL 500.3145, an action for recovery of personal injury protection benefits may not be brought more than one year after the date of the accident which caused the injury. Moreover, under Titan Insurance Company v North Pointe Insurance Company, 270 Mich App 399 (2006) [RB #2696], recovery for benefits mistakenly paid is not subject to a separate statute of limitations. In this regard, the Court of Appeals stated:
“. . . recovery of monies mistakenly paid constituted claims of subrogation subject to the limitations period set forth in MCL 500.3145, and the plain language of the statute did not have a separate limitations period to govern the instance where payment was made by mistake. . . . The Titan Court expressly held that ‘even if [the] plaintiff paid the benefits by mistake, its claim is still one of subrogation and subject to the limitations period in MCL 500.3145.’”
