St. Clair County Circuit Court; Docket No. 9-458; Unpublished
Judge James T. Corden; Written Opinion
Official Michigan Reporter Citation: Not Applicable; Link to Opinion 
STATUTORY INDEXING:
Not Applicable
TOPICAL INDEXING:
Private Contract (Meaning and Intent)
Uninsured Motorist Benefits: Setoffs Applicable to Uninsured Motorist Case
CASE SUMMARY:
In a written Opinion, Judge James T. Corden invalidated a provision in an uninsured motorist policy which permitted uninsured motorist benefits payable under such a policy to be reduced by no-fault benefits received by the plaintiff under that policy or any other no-fault policy. In this particular case, the plaintiff had limited his uninsured motorist claim to noneconomic losses. In addition, the plaintiff has recovered no-fault benefits from a company other than the one from whom he was seeking uninsured motorist benefits.
Judge Corden noted that the Court of Appeals had previously permitted such uninsured motorist setoffs where the uninsured motorist carrier was also the no-fault carrier. However, this was not the situation in this case. Thus, the Court had the responsibility of arriving at a decision "which best comports with public policy, equity and justice." Judge Corden noted that the legislative purpose of the no-fault act is to make the automobile crash victim whole. Under the facts of this case there was no possible chance of double recovery. Thus, Judge Corden ruled that to require reimbursement or reduction of noneconomic loss recovery where there is no duplicate recovery frustrates the objective of making the accident victim whole. In addition, the contract's attempt to avoid full benefits contravenes principles of public policy, equity and justice.
