Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket #228312; Unpublished
Judges Smolenski, Doctoroff and Owens; unanimous; per curiam
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not applicable, Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Noneconomic Loss Liability for Serious Impairment of Body Function Threshold (Definition) [3135(1)]
Objective Manifestation Element of Serious Impairment [3135(7)]
General Ability / Normal Life Element of Serious Impairment [3135(7)]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
In this unanimous unpublished per curiam opinion decided without oral argument, the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's order granting summary disposition for defendant on plaintiff's claim of serious impairment of body function. The injury suffered by plaintiff was a non specified soft tissue injury causing plaintiff to suffer continuing back and leg pain. The trial court correctly found that the evidence established an objectively manifested injury that affected an important body function. However, the trial court properly granted summary disposition because, “the injury did not affect plaintiff's ability to lead a normal life.” The court went on to say:
“To be sure, the evidence showed that plaintiff had continuing back and leg pain. However, his ability to work was not medically restricted, even though the pain sometimes caused him to miss work or to take additional breaks. The only other manifestations of his injury were that he could not go out dancing as frequently as he used to, no longer performed all of his regular household tasks, had to change his usual sleeping posture, and gained some weight, presumably due to his less active lifestyle. Although these minor lifestyle changes are undoubtedly frustrating, we do not believe that these facts are sufficient to cause reasonable minds to differ in concluding that plaintiff's injury was not a 'serious impairment of body function,' as defined by statute and applied by the controlling case law.”
