Thompson v. TNT Overland Express

505 N.W.2d 918, 201 Mich. App. 336
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 7, 1993
DocketDocket 136558
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 505 N.W.2d 918 (Thompson v. TNT Overland Express) 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
Thompson v. TNT Overland Express, 505 N.W.2d 918, 201 Mich. App. 336 (Mich. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinions

Jansen, J.

Defendant appeals as of right from the Wayne Circuit Court’s December 17, 1990, judgment requiring it to pay plaintiff statutory no-fault benefits and interest in the amount of $26,652.61. The judgment is the result of the trial court’s previous orders denying defendant’s motion for summary disposition and granting plaintiff’s cross-motion for summary disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(0(10). We affirm.

Defendant contends that plaintiff is not entitled [338]*338to no-fault benefits because he has been receiving workers’ compensation benefits as a result of an injury that occurred while he was loading, unloading, or doing mechanical work on a vehicle. Defendant argues that pursuant to MCL 500.3106(2)(a); MSA 24.13106(2)(a), plaintiffs injuries do not arise out of the ownership, operation, maintenance, or use of a parked vehicle as a motor vehicle. We disagree with defendant.

No-fault benefits are payable for certain accidental bodily injuries arising out of the ownership, operation, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle as a motor vehicle. MCL 500.3105; MSA 24.13105. However, the parked vehicle provision, MCL 500.3106; MSA 24.13106, provides for certain exclusions from no-fault coverage. At issue in the present case is MCL 500.3106(2)(a); MSA 24.13106(2)(a), which provides as follows:

(2) Accidental bodily injury does not arise out of the ownership, operation, maintenance, or use of a parked vehicle as a motor vehicle if benefits under the worker’s disability compensation act of 1969, Act No. 317 of the Public Acts of 1969, as amended, being sections 418.101 to 418.941 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, or under a similar law of another state or under a similar federal law, are available to an employee who sustains the injury in the course of his or her employment while doing either of the following:
(a) Loading, unloading, or doing mechanical work on a vehicle unless the injury arose from the use or operation of another vehicle. As used in this subdivision, "another vehicle” does not include a motor vehicle being loaded on, unloaded from, or secured to, as cargo or freight, a motor vehicle.

In Bell v F J Boutell Driveaway Co, 141 Mich App 802; 369 NW2d 231 (1985), this Court adopted a broad meaning of the terms "loading” and "un[339]*339loading” as used in § 3106(2). Id., p 809. "Those terms encompass activities preparatory to the actual lifting onto or lowering of property. The terms include the complete operation of loading and unloading.” Id. See also Raymond v Commercial Carriers, Inc, 173 Mich App 290, 292-293; 433 NW2d 342 (1988); Crawford v Allstate Ins Co, 160 Mich App 182, 186; 407 NW2d 618 (1987); Gibbs v United Parcel Service, 155 Mich App 300, 302-303; 400 NW2d 313 (1986); Gray v Liberty Mutual Ins Co, 149 Mich App 446, 449-450; 386 NW2d 210 (1986). Applying a broad definition of the terms "load” and "unload,” the Gibbs Court held that, like acts of preparation, acts incidental to the completion of the loading or unloading process fall within the scope of § 3106(2). Id., p 305. In Bell, the Court concluded that the Legislature intended to eliminate duplication of benefits for work-related injuries except where the actual driving or operation of a motor vehicle is involved. Id., p 810.

We cannot conclude, as defendant asserts, that plaintiff was in the process of loading or unloading his trailer at the time he was injured. Plaintiff, a truck driver, testified at deposition that he hooked up a loaded trailer in defendant’s Detroit yard and was to transport the trailer to defendant’s yard in Windsor, Canada. Defendant did not personally load the trailer. Plaintiff testified that the drivers "shuttle” the trailers to defendant’s yard in Canada and drop them off so that a Canadian driver can pick up the trailer and deliver it to its destination in Canada.

On the day in question, plaintiff dropped off the loaded trailer at defendant’s Canadian yard; he was then required to bring an empty trailer back to Detroit. After hooking the electrical cable and air hoses from the tractor to the empty trailer, plaintiff performed a "circle check” of the tractor-[340]*340trailer unit. As plaintiff got alongside the tractor, he heard an air leak. He got up on the tractor to check the leak and, as he reached for the air hose, he slipped and fell, sustaining bodily injuries.

We are of the opinion that the facts of the present case make it distinguishable from the cases relied upon by defendant. In Bell, the plaintiff, who was delivering cars to a dealership, removed a chain that secured a car to the trailer during transport and, while walking around the trailer to release the chain on the other side, fell on hydraulic fluid leaking from the trailer. Id., p 805. In Gray, the plaintiff injured his back twice, first when he picked up packages in the back of his truck to be unloaded at his next stop, and again ten days later when he bent over to pick up a package that was to be immediately unloaded from his truck. Id., p 448. In Gibbs, the plaintiff had just finished stacking packages inside a trailer and was moving toward the back of the trailer so that she could get out when she tripped on a loose package, fell to the trailer floor, and injured her knees. Id., p 301. In Crawford, the plaintiff, employed as the driver of a tractor-trailer hauling automobiles, was injured on his employer’s premises while attempting to tighten a loose chain used to secure an automobile to the top tier of the trailer. Id., pp 183-184. And similarly, in Raymond, the driver of a tractor-trailer hauling new cars was injured while tightening loose chains that were securing the cars to the trailer. Id., p 292.

In those cases, each claimant was in the process of loading, unloading, or specifically dealing with the cargo or freight involved, while in the present case, plaintiff was not dealing with the cargo or freight. See Cobb v Liberty Mutual Ins Co, 164 Mich App 66, 71; 416 NW2d 328 (1987) (the plaintiff, who was not responsible for loading or unload[341]*341ing goods from inside the trailer, was injured when he slipped and fell while dismounting from the tractor after he released the trailer from the tractor and removed the air and electrical connections between the trailer and the tractor). Plaintiff did not load the trailer that was delivered to the yard in Canada, nor was he required to unload it. Additionally, plaintiff was to return to Detroit with an empty trailer.

Even giving a broad definition to the terms "loading” and "unloading,” as found appropriate in Bell and its progeny, we are unable to conclude that plaintiff was injured while loading or unloading the trailers. See Marshall v Roadway Express, Inc, 146 Mich App 753, 756; 381 NW2d 422 (1985) (the plaintiff was unhitching his trailer and, as he unhooked the brake lines, the tractor rolled forward, striking him down and running over his left hand and chest). There is no evidence that plaintiff was aiding in the loading or unloading process. Id. Plaintiff’s mere delivery of a previously loaded trailer and his subsequent attempt to connect an empty trailer to the tractor cannot be construed as "activities preparatory to the actual lifting onto or lowering of property,” Bell, p 809, or "acts incidental to the completion of the loading or unloading process.” Gibbs, p 305.

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Thompson v. TNT Overland Express
505 N.W.2d 918 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1993)

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Bluebook (online)
505 N.W.2d 918, 201 Mich. App. 336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thompson-v-tnt-overland-express-michctapp-1993.