Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket #220190; Unpublished
Judges Collins, Hoekstra and Gage; unanimous; per curiam
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not applicable, Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Exclusion for Vehicles Considered Parked
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
In this unanimous unpublished per curiam opinion, the Court of Appeals held that plaintiff was not entitled to PIP benefits as a result of being injured while his friend was inserting a rifle into its case on the front seat of a pickup truck in which plaintiff was seated in the passenger seat.
The court held that the parked vehicle section of the No-Fault Act, 3106(1), clearly governed the determination of whether the injury was covered under the No-Fault Act. The court relied on Putkamer v Transamerica Insurance Corporation of America, 454 Mich 626 (1997) [Item No. 1929], which determined that no-fault liability exists when the facts involve conduct fitting one of the three exceptions in the parked vehicle provisions of the No-Fault Act, 3106(1), and the injury is “directly related” to the vehicle’s character and use as a motor vehicle.
In this case, the gun discharged only because plaintiff’s friend had the gun’s hammer back and his finger on the trigger while he put the gun into its case. Distinguishing its earlier opinion in Perryman v Citizens Insurance Company [Item No. 966], the court held that the accident did not occur because of a need to maneuver the weapon within the confines of the truck. There was nothing distinctive about the truck’s front seat that invited its use as a platform for casing a gun. The court held that because plaintiff’s injury only incidentally related to the parked truck and could have occurred in any setting, the injury was not related to the use of the truck as a motor vehicle, and the plaintiff is not entitled to PIP insurance benefits.
