U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan; Docket No. 97-40384;
Honorable Paul V. Gadola; Published
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: 60 F. Supp. 2d 716; Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Threshold Applicability to Out of State Accidents [§3135]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not Applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
In this written Opinion/Order, Judge Gadola ruled that Michigan law applies to an automobile accident occurring in Arizona, involving Michigan plaintiffs and defendants who are residents of Ohio and Iowa, respectively. Therefore, the threshold injury provisions of section 3135 must be satisfied in order for plaintiffs to recover non-economic damages. In so holding, the court stated:
"Michigan has an interest in relieving its courts of the burden of litigation in cases of non-serious injury, and given that Arizona courts recognize that a state's interest in controlling tortious conduct within its borders, ordinarily gives way to the interests of the states in which the parties to the action reside, this court finds that the competing interests in this case mandate that Michigan law be applied to this dispute."
In holding that the threshold provisions of section 3135 apply, the court relied upon the previous Court of Appeals opinion in McLean v Wolverine Moving & Storage Company [Item No. 1423]. The court refused plaintiff’s invitation to distinguish McLean, on the basis that McLean dealt with a case wherein all parties were Michigan residents.
In rejecting this basis of distinction, the court relied upon the Michigan Supreme Court's decision in Auto Club Insurance Association v Hill [Item No. 1171], wherein the Supreme Court held that the limitations for tort recovery for non-economic damages contained in section 3135(1) were applicable to an uninsured motorist whose tort liability was not abolished under the general provisions of section 3135(3).
Therefore, because the Supreme Court had concluded in Auto Club that all defendants, regardless of whether or not they are insured or uninsured, are entitled to limit liability for non-economic loss to threshold injuries, therefore all tortfeasors who are sued for non-economic damage in Michigan courts are entitled to claim the same non-economic loss immunity.
