Muskegon County Circuit Court; Docket No. 81-15833-CK; Unpublished
Judge John H. Piercey; Written Opinion
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not Applicable; Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Entitlement to PIP Benefits: Arising Out of / Causation Requirement [§3105(1)]
Exclusion for Vehicles Considered Parked [§3106(1)]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not Applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
In this written Opinion, Judge Piercey denied defendant DAIIE's motion for summary judgment in a case involving the right of plaintiff to recover no-fault benefits after suffering a heart attack while repairing a motor vehicle in the course of his employment At the time of the heart attack, plaintiff was attempting to remove frozen bolts from a convertible top. Judge Piercey held that the plaintiff need not fit himself within one of the three exceptions to the parked vehicle provisions of §3106 of the Act. The judge held that in the recent decision in Miller v Auto-Owners (item number 431), the Michigan Supreme Court held that injuries incurred while performing maintenance on a motor vehicle are compensable without regard to whether the vehicle was considered parked at the time of the injury. Therefore, the parked vehicle provisions of §3106 do not apply to this heart attack situation.
Judge Piercey also declined to hold that a heart attack is a foreseeably identifiable result of the normal maintenance of a motor vehicle as a matter of law and permitted that issue to go to the jury.
