Wayne County Circuit Court; Docket No. 81 -109684-CK; Unpublished
Judge William J. Giovan; Written Opinion
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not Applicable; Link to Opinion
STATUTORY INDEXING:
One-Year Notice Rule Limitation [§3145(1)]
Required Content of Notice / Sufficiency of Notice [§3145(1)]
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Not Applicable
CASE SUMMARY:
In this written Opinion, Wayne County Circuit Judge William Giovan held that a written communication to a first party no-fault insurer qualifies as sufficient written notice of injury under the terms of §3145 of the Act when it contains all of the necessary information but makes no express claim for first party benefits, referring instead only to a residual tort liability claim. In ruling that the written notice was sufficient, Judge Giovan stated, "§3145(1) demands only that the written notice of injury contain explicitly identified information. It does not require that the notice contain a demand for first-party benefits and it does not disqualify communications that refer to residual tort liability. The fact that the letter from counsel in the case at bar referred only to a tort claim does not alter the fact that it also contained the information demanded by §3145(1) for a written notice of injury."