Corwin v. DaimlerChrysler Insurance

819 N.W.2d 68, 296 Mich. App. 242
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 17, 2012
DocketDocket No. 301931
StatusPublished
Cited by86 cases

This text of 819 N.W.2d 68 (Corwin v. DaimlerChrysler Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Corwin v. DaimlerChrysler Insurance, 819 N.W.2d 68, 296 Mich. App. 242 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

This appeal involves a priority dispute among three automobile insurance companies. In 2007, plaintiffs John and Vera-Anne Corwin sustained severe [247]*247injuries in a car accident while driving a 2007 Jeep Compass that John leased from defendant Chrysler LLC1 and insured through defendant DaimlerChrysler Insurance Company2 (Chrysler Insurance). The Cor-wins also owned two other motor vehicles: one insured by plaintiff Auto Club Insurance Association (Auto Club) and the other by defendant Foremost Insurance Company (Foremost). Auto Club and Foremost have paid the Corwins’ personal injury protection (PIP) benefits at the time of this appeal. Chrysler Insurance insists that it does not share this responsibility because Chrysler LLC and its United States subsidiaries, rather than the Corwins, are the named insureds in the insurance policy for the Jeep Compass, and the policy states that Chrysler Insurance is not responsible for PIP benefits if the Corwins are entitled to PIP benefits as the named insureds in another policy. The trial court agreed and granted summary disposition in Chrysler Insurance’s favor.

Michigan law requires that the named insured in an automobile insurance policy have an insurable interest. Moreover, a motor-vehicle insurer cannot avoid or shift its statutory primary responsibility for PIP benefits. We conclude that Chrysler LLC and its United States subsidiaries do not have an insurable interest as required by Michigan law and that the Chrysler Insurance policy contravenes the no-fault act by enabling Chrysler Insurance to avoid and shift its statutory responsibility for its share of the Corwins’ PIP benefits. Thus, we reform the Chrysler Insurance policy to comply with Michigan law by including both John and [248]*248Vera-Anne as “named insureds” falling within the policy’s definition of “you.” We reverse and remand.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

John and Vera-Anne Corwin are husband and wife and live together in Oakland County. John is a retiree of Chrysler LLC. As a retiree, John qualified for a Chrysler vehicle lease program. Through the program, John leased a 2007 Jeep Compass from Chrysler LLC beginning in June 2007. The term of the lease was for two years. Chrysler Insurance insured the Jeep Compass under a fronted insurance policy.3 Chrysler LLC never gave John an option of purchasing insurance with another automobile insurer. When John received the Jeep Compass, he received a certificate of insurance; however, John was not the named insured on the certificate. John never received a copy of the insurance policy or a title for the vehicle. However, John did receive a “lease vehicle terms and conditions manual.” John had a monthly lease fee of about $300 that was deducted from his pension check. The terms and conditions manual provided that the monthly fee “covered all expenses related to the [Jeep Compass] including insurance” that was “required by the state.” John was never informed what portion of his monthly payment was for the insurance.

The Chrysler Insurance policy declarations page and endorsements IL-A and IL-B provide that Daimler-[249]*249Chrysler Corporation and its United States subsidiaries are the “named insured” for the Jeep Compass. The policy defines “you” as “the Named Insured shown in the Declarations” and “us” as “the Company providing this Insurance.” The Chrysler Insurance policy states the following with respect to coverage: “We will pay personal injury protection [PIP] benefits to or for an ‘insured’ who sustains ‘bodily injury’ caused by an ‘accident’ and resulting from the ownership, maintenance or use of an ‘auto’ as an ‘auto’.” The policy defines an “insured” as follows:

B. Who Is An Insured
1. You or any “family member”.
2. Anyone else who sustains “bodily injury”:
a. While “occupying” a covered “auto”, or
b. As the result of an “accident” involving any other “auto” operated by you or a “family member” if that “auto” is a covered “auto” under the policy’s Liability Coverage, or
c. While not “occupying” any “auto” as a result of an “accident” involving a covered “auto”.

The policy contains the following exclusion:

C. Exclusions
We will not pay personal injury protection benefits for “bodily injury”:
6. To anyone entitled to Michigan no-fault benefits as a Named Insured under another policy. This exclusion does not apply to you or anyone “occupying” a motorcycle.

On August 5, 2007, John was driving the Jeep Compass. Vera-Anne and the Corwins’ daughter, Gail, were seated in passenger seats. As John drove through an intersection on a green light, a vehicle driven by defendant Leslie Ann Jackson drove through on a red [250]*250light and struck the Jeep Compass “almost completely in the driver’s door.” Jackson was an uninsured motorist at the time of the accident. Both John and Vera-Anne sustained severe injuries.

At the time of the accident, the Corwins owned a Jeep Liberty that was insured with Auto Club under a Michigan no-fault insurance policy. John and Vera-Anne were the “named insureds” under the policy. The Corwins also owned a motor home. The motor home was insured by Foremost. John was the “named insured” under the policy. After the accident, Auto Club provided the Corwins “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in PIP benefits. But, neither Foremost nor Chrysler Insurance paid the Corwins PIP benefits before this action was initiated.

The Corwins and Auto Club sued Chrysler Insurance, Chrysler LLC, Foremost, and Jackson. The Cor-wins and Auto Club requested a declaratory judgment regarding the parties’ obligations to pay PIP benefits, Auto Club’s right to reimbursement from defendants, and the Corwins’ right to uninsured-motorist coverage under their three insurance policies. The Corwins and Auto Club also pleaded a single count of negligence against Jackson. Chrysler Insurance and Chrysler LLC filed a counterclaim against the Corwins and Auto Club and moved for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(0(10). It argued that Auto Club and Foremost had coequal priority to pay the Corwins’ PIP benefits because John was a named insured on both the Auto Club and Foremost policies but not the Chrysler Insurance policy. Chrysler Insurance also argued that the Corwins could not recover uninsured-motorist benefits from Chrysler Insurance because the Chrysler Insurance policy did not provide uninsured-motorist coverage at the time of the accident. Auto Club and Foremost [251]*251moved for partial summary disposition under MCR 2.116(0(10). They argued that Chrysler Insurance, Auto Club, and Foremost shared the liability for the Corwins’ PIP benefits because (1) the Corwins were the named insureds on the Auto Club and Foremost policies and (2) the Chrysler Insurance policy should be reformed by the court to name the Corwins as the named insureds because the policy improperly shifted Chrysler Insurance’s statutory responsibility for the Corwins’ PIP benefits to Foremost and Auto Club.

Without hearing oral argument on the parties’ motions for summary disposition, the trial court issued an opinion and order on July 1, 2010.

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Bluebook (online)
819 N.W.2d 68, 296 Mich. App. 242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corwin-v-daimlerchrysler-insurance-michctapp-2012.