Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket No. 73935; Unpublished
Judges Brennan, Allen, and Gribbs; Unanimous
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not Applicable; Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Nature of Survivor’s Loss Benefits [§3108(1)]
Calculation of Survivor’s Loss Benefits and Maximums [§3108(1)]
Dependents [§3108(1)]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not Applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
This unanimous Opinion by Judge Brennan deals with an issue of first impression regarding the payment of no-fault survivors' loss benefits to the surviving children of a deceased single parent. The specific issue before the Court was whether the language contained in the survivors' loss provisions of §3108, to-wit, "contributions of tangible things of economic value that dependents of the deceased would have received for support from the deceased," includes amounts of money loaned by family members to a deceased parent while she was unemployed, which sue were then used by her for the care and support of her children until she could secure permanent employment The Court of Appeals held that such intra-family loans should be considered as "contributions of tangible things of economic value" that the children received from the deceased and thus, reversed a trial court's ruling to the contrary.
In characterizing these intra-family loans, the Court stated, "[the mother] received the loans and exercised her independent judgment upon how these funds could best be used to support her children. She purchased food and clothing the children received. She paid for the children's school supplies and extracurricular activities. Moreover, the defendants do not contest the true nature of the transactions between [the family members and the mother]." The Court went on to say that, "to deny the plaintiff’s survivors' loss benefits because their mother supported them with intra-family loans would be to say that a parent's failure to obtain employment and receive 'take home wages' should redound to the benefit of a no-fault insurance carrier. The notion of 'contributions of tangible things of economic value' is greater than the notion of 'income'. An insurance carrier who receives its premiums from the funds of these intra-family loans should not be heard to complain that these loans make the dependents of the deceased ineligible for survivors' loss benefits."
