Court allows insurer to re-examine attendant care rate

Michael Demery suffered a serious head injury and an amputated arm in a 2003 motor vehicle accident.  His wife is an R.N. and in 2005, the Court ordered AAA to pay her $30.00 per hour for skilled attendant care.  AAA sought to re-open the case in 2009, arguing that Demery no longer required skilled care and that his wife should be compensated at $11.00 per hour, rather than at her R.N. hourly rate.  The Circuit Court granted Demery summary disposition, holding that the parties were bound by the prior judgment.  The Court of Appeals overturned, holding that the insurer had alleged a sufficient change in circumstances to entitle it to a new determination of Demery's wife's hourly attendant care rate.  It will come as no surprise that Judge Henry Saad was on the panel:  he votes for the insurer in every situation.  It would be interesting to see if he would have voted to allow Demery to re-open the prior Court determination for the purpose of increasing attendant care.