Truby v. Farm Bureau General Insurance

438 N.W.2d 249, 175 Mich. App. 569
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 9, 1988
DocketDocket No. 96740
StatusPublished

This text of 438 N.W.2d 249 (Truby v. Farm Bureau General 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
Truby v. Farm Bureau General Insurance, 438 N.W.2d 249, 175 Mich. App. 569 (Mich. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Defendant Ryder Truck Rental, Inc., appeals from an order of the Wayne Circuit Court granting summary disposition to plaintiff Simon Truby on the issue of liability. Each party had moved for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(0(10). There were no material issues of fact. The issue of law was whether plaintiff could collect no-fault personal protection insurance benefits for [571]*571a work-related injury involving two or more motor vehicles.

Review under MCR 2.116(0(10) is based on the affidavits, pleadings, depositions, admissions and documentary evidence filed in the action or submitted by the parties. MCR 2.116(G)(5).1 A motion under this subrule usually tests the factual support for the claim. Linebaugh v Berdish, 144 Mich App 750, 753; 376 NW2d 400 (1985). Where there is no genuine issue of material fact, the court may properly grant summary disposition as a matter of law. MCR 2.116(I)(1).

The undisputed facts are that on January 7, 1986, plaintiff was working at the General Motors Truck and Bus plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, while employed by Commercial Carriers, Inc. His duties included loading pickup trucks onto a two-tier trailer designed to carry five pickup trucks. He did this by driving each pickup truck up a portable ramp and onto the trailer. He loaded the fifth pickup onto the top tier of the trailer and set the parking brake. The next step in the loading process was to tie down the pickup. As he began to exit from the pickup to accomplish this task, it began to roll, knocking the plaintiff to the ground. Plaintiff was half in and half out of the truck when the accident occurred. It is also undisputed that the only assembly remaining to be done to these pickup trucks was the attachment of a rear bed or box suitable for the purposes of the purchaser of the truck.

An insurer is liable to pay personal protection insurance benefits "for accidental bodily injury [572]*572arising out of the ownership, operation, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle as a motor vehicle” subject to the provisions of Chapter 31 of the Insurance Code, MCL 500.3101 et seq.) MSA 24.13101 et seq. MCL 500.3105(1); MSA 24.13105(1). "Accidental bodily injury” is specially defined. At the time plaintiffs injury occurred, MCL 500.3106; MSA 24.13106 provided in part:

(1) Accidental bodily injury does not arise out of the ownership, operation, maintenance, or use of a parked vehicle as a motor vehicle unless any of the following occur:
(c) Except as provided in subsection (2) for an injury sustained in the course of employment while loading, unloading, or doing mechanical work on a vehicle, the injury was sustained by a person while occupying, entering into, or alighting from the vehicle.
(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, are available to an employee who sustains the injury in the course of his or her employment while loading, unloading, or doing mechanical work on a vehicle unless the injury arose from the use or operation of another vehicle.

As stated in Krueger v Lumberman’s Mutual Casualty Co, 112 Mich App 511, 516; 316 NW2d 474 (1982):

In order to recover no-fault benefits for injuries sustained in connection with a parked vehicle, a claimant must establish both the applicability of one of the § 3106 categories and, in addition, that [573]*573the injuries arose out of the ownership, operation, maintenance or use of the parked vehicle.

Plaintiff’s primary theory of liability was that under MCL 500.3106(2); MSA 24.13106(2) the undisputed facts showed that the accident arose out of the use of a parked vehicle, i.e., the carrier, that while in the course of his employment plaintiff was loading a vehicle, i.e., the carrier, and that the injury also arose from the use of another vehicle, i.e., the last pickup loaded by the plaintiff. The trial court focused almost exclusively on the element of whether the pickup truck was “another vehicle” under MCL 500.3106(2); MSA 24.13106(2). This opinion will consider each element in the above order.

First, there is no dispute that the carrier was parked at the time of the injury and that plaintiff was in the course of his employment. Second, regardless of whether the carrier was attached to a cab or freestanding, the carrier was a vehicle. MCL 500.3101(2)(c); MSA 24.13101(2)(c); Parks v DAIIE, 426 Mich 191, 198; 393 NW2d 833 (1986); Kelly v Inter-City Truck Lines, Inc, 121 Mich App 208, 211; 328 NW2d 406 (1982); Jones v Tronex Chemical Corp, 129 Mich App 188, 195; 341 NW2d 469 (1983). Because plaintiff had not completed tying down the last pickup truck, plaintiff was in the process of loading the vehicle. See, e.g., Gibbs v United Parcel Service, 155 Mich App 300, 302-303; 400 NW2d 313 (1986); Bell v F J Boutell Driveaway Co, 141 Mich App 802, 808-809; 369 NW2d 231 (1985). Because plaintiff was still in the process of loading the carrier and was struck by a pickup rolling off of the carrier, it cannot be argued that the injury did not arise from the use of the carrier.

Third, there is no dispute that the pickup was [574]*574completely assembled except that it lacked a rear bed or box. Unlike the motor home chassis in Logan v Commercial Carriers, Inc, 152 Mich App 701, 704; 394 NW2d 470 (1986), the pickup was not merely a frame, motor and steering wheel, but had a cab, hood, windshield and finished seat. There were no facts presented which would suggest that the pickup truck was not designed for operation on a highway. Therefore, the pickup should be regarded as a motor vehicle under MCL 500.3101(2)(c); MSA 24.13101(2)(c) and as another vehicle under MCL 500.3106(2); MSA 24.13106(2).

Finally, in order to conclude that the injury "arose from” the use of the pickup, there must have been undisputed facts establishing a causal connection between the use of the motor vehicle and the injury sustained. This causal connection must be more than incidental, fortuitous, or but for. "The injury must be foreseeably identifiable with the normal use, maintenance or ownership of the vehicle.” Krueger, supra, p 516, quoting Kangas v Aetna Casualty & Surety Co, 64 Mich App 1, 17; 235 NW2d 42 (1975), lv den 395 Mich 787 (1975). The Krueger Court found a sufficient causal connection where the claimant stepped into a pothole while alighting from a motor vehicle. It is equally foreseeable that a vehicle parked on a steep incline might roll backward causing injury to a person alighting from the vehicle. Therefore, the undisputed facts establish that the injury arose from the use of the pickup.

Defendant argued for the first time at oral argument before this Court that MCL 500.3106(2); MSA 24.13106(2) as amended by 1986 PA 318, effective June 1, 1987, should be applied retroactively to preclude plaintiffs claim. This Court will normally consider an issue to be abandoned where the appellant neither briefs the issue nor cites any au[575]*575thority to sustain its position. Carr v Detroit, 48 Mich App 150, 153; 210 NW2d 143 (1973). However, this Court would note:

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Related

Bell v. F. J. Boutell Driveaway Co.
141 Mich. App. 802 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1985)
Borkus v. Michigan National Bank
324 N.W.2d 123 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1982)
Gibbs v. United Parcel Service
400 N.W.2d 313 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1986)
Logan v. Commercial Carriers, Inc
394 N.W.2d 470 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1986)
Kelly v. Inter-City Truck Lines, Inc
328 N.W.2d 406 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1982)
Parks v. Detroit Automobile Inter-Insurance Exchange
393 N.W.2d 833 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1986)
Kangas v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.
235 N.W.2d 42 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1975)
Jones v. Tronex Chemical Corp.
341 N.W.2d 469 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1983)
Linebaugh v. Berdish
376 N.W.2d 400 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1985)
Franks v. White Pine Copper Division
375 N.W.2d 715 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1985)
Gormley v. General Motors Corp.
336 N.W.2d 873 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1983)
Krueger v. Lumbermen's Mutual Casualty Co.
316 N.W.2d 474 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1982)
Carr v. City of Detroit
210 N.W.2d 143 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1973)
Dow Chemical Co. v. Curtis
404 N.W.2d 737 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1987)
Trail Clinic, Pc v. Bloch
319 N.W.2d 638 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
438 N.W.2d 249, 175 Mich. App. 569, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/truby-v-farm-bureau-general-insurance-michctapp-1988.