Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket No. 307196; Unpublished
Judges Sawyer, Saad and Meter; unanimous; per curiam
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: not applicable; Link to Opinion
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Not applicable
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Uninsured Motorist Benefits: Notice and Statute of Limitations for Uninsured Motorist Coverage
In this unanimous unpublished per curiam Opinion, the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s Judgment awarded to plaintiff for uninsured motorist benefits under her uninsured motorist policy issued by Farm Bureau. Farm Bureau appealed the judgment on the grounds that the claim should have been dismissed because there was a one-year contractual limitations in the policy that barred the action, which was filed within three years from the subject accident but later than one year after the accident.
The Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court that the one-year limitation provision was not enforceable, pursuant to Order No. 05-060-M issued by the Office of Financial and Insurance Services (OFIR) on December 16, 2005. Notably, the OFIR Order prohibits auto insurers from limiting the statute of limitations for uninsured motorist benefits claims for any time less than three years after the date of an accident. In deciding whether the policy at issue was subject to the terms of the Order, the Court noted that specific language of the OFIR Order states that an insurer is not prohibited “from continuing to use any policy form or rider that it may have been legally using in Michigan prior to the date of this notice…so long as such policy or rider is not revised in any respect.” The Court reasoned that because Farm Bureau issued an endorsement in January 2007 that changed other provisions of the subject uninsured motorist policy covering Plaintiff, the policy had been revised and was therefore subject to the terms of OFIR Order. The Court cited the case of Ulrich v Farm Bureau Ins Co, 288 Mich App 310 (2010) in support of its decision.
