Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket No. 205260; Published
Judges Neff, Kelly, and Hood; Unanimous; Per Curiam
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: 234 Mich App 465; Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Property Owned by Named Insured [§3123(1)(b)]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Legislative Purpose and Intent
CASE SUMMARY:
In this unanimous per curiam published Opinion, the Court of Appeals held that the statutory exclusion for property protection benefits contained in section 3123 did not preclude coverage of such benefits, where the owner of the property that was damaged was not the “named person” under the property protection insurance coverage.
In this case, a rented truck was being operated by Mroue when it struck real and personal property owned by Mroue's business. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company paid for the property damage and then filed a claim alleging that the auto insurer for the truck rental company should provide indemnification to it for the amount it paid to Mroue for the damage to Mroue's business property.
The auto insurer, Old Republic, claimed that State Farm, as subrogee of Mroue, could not claim property protection benefits because of the provisions of section 3123(1)(b) which precludes recovery of property protection insurance benefits for property owned "by a person named in a property protection insurance policy." State Farm Fire and Casualty claimed that Mroue was not "named" in Old Republic's policy, and therefore, the property protection benefits should be paid. In reversing the trial court decision, the Court of Appeals held that although the rental agreement provides that Mroue was designated as the “driver” of the truck, the insurance policy provided by Old Republic to the rental company clearly indicates that Mroue was not a “named insured.” Since Mroue was not a named insured, he was not a "person named in the policy" within the meaning of section 3123(1)(b) and coverage was not precluded.
The court held that in three (3) prior cases, it had been determined that the phrase "the person named in the policy” as used in section 3123(1)(b) is synonymous with the term “named insured.”
