Miller v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

302 N.W.2d 537, 410 Mich. 538, 1981 Mich. LEXIS 247
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 10, 1981
DocketDocket Nos. 62962, 62963. (Calendar No. 13)
StatusPublished
Cited by71 cases

This text of 302 N.W.2d 537 (Miller v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, 302 N.W.2d 537, 410 Mich. 538, 1981 Mich. LEXIS 247 (Mich. 1981).

Opinions

Ryan, J.

Ongoing experience with the innovative no-fault insurance act1 continues to generate litigation requiring judicial discovery of the intent [550]*550of the Legislature concerning various provisions of the act.

This is such a case.

We granted leave in these consolidated appeals in order to decide:

"[Whether] survivors’ benefits payable under § 3108 of the no-fault insurance act, MCL 500.3108; MSA 24.13108 [should] be computed on the basis of gross pay or take-home pay reduced by the amount of expenses avoided by reason of decedent’s death.”

And,

"[Whether] the remarriage of a widow reduce[s] the amount of survivor benefits due other dependents under § 3108 of the no-fault insurance act, MCL 500.3108; MSA 24.13108.”

We hold:

(1) The language of § 3108, read in the light of its legislative history and in the context of the no-fault act as a whole, establishes that it is the legislative intention that the calculation of "contributions of tangible things of economic value” should include consideration of all demonstrable contributions that would have been made to the dependents by the deceased but for his death, less an adjustment for income-related taxes that would have been paid by the deceased had he lived, and without consideration of any personal consumption factor relating to expenses avoided by reason of the deceased’s death; and

(2) The provisions of the no-fault act contemplate that the remarriage of a decedent’s surviving spouse is an event which requires reduction in survivors’ loss benefits due to the remaining sur[551]*551viving dependents in an amount equal to the amount of contributions of tangible things of economic value which would have been provided by the deceased, at the time of death, for the sole benefit of the disqualified dependent.

(3) The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed and the case is remanded to the circuit court for proceedings consonant herewith.

I

Plaintiffs’ decedent, Carl Saltzman, died as a result of injuries he sustained in an automobile accident which occurred on January 10, 1976. The plaintiffs are Mr. Saltzman’s widow, who is now remarried, and his children. The defendant State Farm was the decedent’s no-fault automobile insurer at the time of the fatal accident.

Prior to his death, Mr. Saltzman held one part-time and one full-time job, and his combined gross monthly wages amounted to $806.

In the spring of 1976, after Mr. Saltzman’s death, the plaintiffs met with a State Farm claims adjuster in order to calculate the plaintiffs’ survivors’ loss benefits, as provided by § 3108 of the no-fault insurance act, MCL 500.3108; MSA 24.131Ó8. Some time after this meeting, the plaintiffs were informed by State Farm that they would be paid no survivors’ loss benefits under their decedent’s no-fault policy because they were entitled to Social Security benefits which exceeded, and thereby completely offset,2 the amount of support that, according to State Farm’s calculations, the plaintiffs would have received from Mr. Saltzman had he lived._

[552]*552In June of 1976, plaintiff Linda Miller, the decedent’s widow, remarried.

On January 28, 1977, plaintiff Miller, individually and as next friend of her two minor children by Carl Saltzman, filed suit against State Farm seeking to recover survivors’ loss benefits and other damages.

On April 22, 1977 the plaintiffs filed a motion for partial summary judgment pursuant to GCR 1963, 117.2(2), 117.2(3), claiming entitlement to survivors’ benefits. The trial judge issued a written opinion on the motion on July 14, 1977. On August 24, 1977, a judgment was entered giving effect to the July 14th decision which provided, in pertinent part:

"The court further finds that no proofs have been submitted by plaintiffs other than the decedent’s gross pay, as to the amount of contributions of tangible things of economic value that dependents of the deceased at the time of his death would have received for support during their dependency from the deceased if he had not suffered the accidental bodily injury causing death, and finds that as a matter of law defendant under the provisions of its policy and § 3108 of the no-fault act owes said dependents the sum of $806 per month, said sum being the gross pay of decedent at the time of his death, no deduction being allowable for taxes or personal consumption of the deceased.
"The court further finds as a matter of law that after the remarriage of the widow on June 25, 1976, and until January 10, 1979, said defendant shall pay to each dependent child the sum of $403 per month.”

The foregoing provisions of the August 24 judgment were subsequently incorporated into the trial court’s final judgment which was entered on January 24, 1978, after a trial on other issues.

State Farm appealed to the Court of Appeals [553]*553which affirmed the trial court’s ruling that, on the record presented in this case, survivors’ loss benefits were to be calculated solely on the basis of the decedent’s gross income, there having been no evidence offered by the plaintiffs as to other sources of "contributions of tangible things of economic value” to their support by their decedent. However, the Court of Appeals disagreed with the trial court’s ruling that no "personal consumption factor” should be deducted from the decedent’s gross pay in determining the amount of survivors’ loss benefits payable under § 3108 and reversed on that point. The Court of Appeals did not discuss the trial court’s ruling concerning the effect of the decedent’s widow’s remarriage on the amount of survivors’ loss benefits which would thereafter be payable to the decedent’s remaining surviving dependents, Miller v State Farm Ins Co, 88 Mich App 175; 276 NW2d 873 (1979).

Both the plaintiffs and the defendant then filed separate applications for leave to appeal in this Court. We granted both applications and ordered their consolidation. 406 Mich 1005 (1979).

II

What is the proper method of calculation of survivors’ loss beneñts under § 3108 of the no-fault insurance act, MCL 500.3108; MSA 24.13108?

At the times relevant to this action, § 3108 of the no-fault insurance act provided:

"Personal protection insurance benefits are payable for a survivors’ loss which consists of a loss, after the date on which the deceased died, of contributions of tangible things of economic value, not including services, that dependents of the deceased at the time of his death would have received for support during their [554]*554dependency from the deceased if he had not suffered the accidental bodily injury causing death and expenses, not exceeding $20.00 per day, reasonably incurred by these dependents during their dependency and after the date on which the deceased died in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those that the deceased would have performed for their benefit if he had not suffered the injury causing death. The benefits payable for survivors’ loss in connection with the death of a person in a single 30-day period shall not exceed $1,000.00 and is [sic] not payable beyond the first 3 years after the date of the accident.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
302 N.W.2d 537, 410 Mich. 538, 1981 Mich. LEXIS 247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-mich-1981.