A special panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that § 3116 of the No-Fault Act (MCL 500.3116) applies only to a no-fault insurer’s right of reimbursement from a claimant and “does not apply to an insurer’s tort recovery, as a subrogee, against a nonmotorist tortfeasor.”

An insurer was not entitled to a new trial based on unpreserved references to a third party’s drunkenness because the verdict was supported by the evidence and any prejudice was cured by jury instructions. The trial court also properly awarded no-fault attorney fees under MCL 500.3148(1), as the insurer’s prior acknowledgment of the injury made its denial unreasonable, and a later record review could not create factual uncertainty retroactively.

In this no-fault insurance case, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals’ denial of personal injury protection (PIP) benefits to the injured plaintiff, finding the appeals court misinterpreted the applicable no-fault statute and wrongly extended dicta from case precedent.