Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket No. 209348; Unpublished
Judges Collins, Sawyer, and Cavanagh; Unanimous; Per Curiam
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not Applicable; Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Not Applicable
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Uninsured Motorist Benefits
Private Contract (Meaning and Intent)
CASE SUMMARY:
In this unanimous unpublished per curiam Opinion, the Court of Appeals reversed a trial court's order compelling arbitration of plaintiff s claim for uninsured motorist benefits. The court held that the arbitration clause contained in the policy issued by Auto Club specifically reserves for court determination the resolution of whether uninsured motorist coverage exists. In other words, coverage disputes are exempted from arbitration. Therefore, because this case involved a dispute about whether an owned vehicle exclusion precluded coverage, the case should not have been ordered to arbitration.
The court went on to hold that the owned vehicle exclusion applicable to this case did indeed preclude coverage. In this case, plaintiff’s decedent was killed while operating a motorcycle owned by plaintiff s decedent, which was not named in the Declaration Page of the Auto Club insurance policy. Rather, the decedent's motorcycle was insured with State Farm which provided a higher amount of uninsured motorist coverage than the Auto Club policy. Under these circumstances, the plaintiff’s claim for uninsured motorist coverage with Auto Club was precluded by two (2) exclusions: the owned vehicle exclusion which precluded coverage for vehicles owned by the claimant which were not listed on the declaration sheet and the exclusion which precludes coverage if the claimant is covered under the same or similar coverage from another company. Therefore, plaintiff’s claim for uninsured motorist benefits was properly denied.
