Livingston County Circuit Court; File No. 78-3973-CK; Published
Judge Bert M. Hensick; Written Opinion
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not Applicable; Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Standards for Deductibility of State and Federal Governmental Benefits [§3109(1)]
Other Benefits [§3109(1)]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not Applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
In this written Opinion, Livingston County Circuit Judge Bert Hensick held that the retirement benefits received by a former police chief for the City of Brighton pursuant to the Municipal Employees' Retirement Fund, could not be set off as a government benefit under §3109 (1) from no-fault work loss benefits paid to the police chief after his retirement Judge Hensick ruled:
“This Court finds that the retirement benefits of plaintiff do not bear a rational relationship to the accident and are therefore not duplicative benefits under the test enumerated in O'Donnel v State Farm, 404 Mich 524 (1979) In the case at bar, the retirement benefits do not rationally relate to the no-fault benefits. They are not wages or a substitute for wages due to an accident. As they do not duplicate benefits paid under the no-fault statute, they cannot be offset against such benefits."
Judge Hensick also denied a motion filed by defendant insurer to amend its answer so as to include an overlooked statute of limitations defense under §3145 of the Act In denying the motion to amend, the court stated: “This court is of the opinion that justice will not be served by granting the defendant leave to amend its answer. The defendant has had well over two years to amend its answer which was filed on August 28, 1978. The circumstances and length of time are such that the plaintiffs will be prejudiced by the amendment; therefore, the motion for leave to amend the answer must be denied."
