Michigan Court of Appeals; Docket No. 57043; Published
Judges R. B. Burns, Bronson, and Robinson
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: 126 Mich App 427; Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Not Applicable
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not Applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
This multi-issue case involves a highway defect/wrongful death action against the State of Michigan. In the one issue related to the Michigan No-Fault Act, the Court of Appeals held that the trial court did not commit error in refusing to reduce plaintiff’s damages by amounts of economic loss benefits received by plaintiffs through no-fault insurance. Defendant argued that plaintiff should not have been able to recover damages which were compensated by no-fault first party benefits because "this is a double recovery since the insurance carrier has no right of subrogation under the No-Fault Act." In rejecting this argument, the Court of Appeals noted that the Supreme Court in Citizens v Tuttle (item number 429) clearly rules that the No-Fault Act only applies to the tort liability of a motorist tort-feasor. Defendant's liability in this case did not arise out of its ownership, operation, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle and therefore the No-Fault Act is not applicable in anyway.
