Court overturns dismissal of motorist's "serious impairment" claim
Aaron White was hurt when Michael Fisher lost control of the vehicle he was driving and struck a tree. White was ejected from the car and suffered a fractured vertebra in the thoracic region of his back. Fisher's insurer asked the trial judge to dismiss White's claim on the theory that White had not proved a threshold injury under the "life-altering" standard engrafted on the no fault act by the Engler Majority in the Kreiner case. Noting that White was terminated from his job because of "self-imposed" restrictions caused by pain from the injury, the lower court dismissed the case with a holding that White had not suffered a serious impairment of bodily function.
The Court of Appeals overturned this decision. It noted that under the newer McCormick standard adopted in 2010 (and likely to be revisited by the new Republican majority on the Michigan Supreme Court) White had raised an issue of serious impairment that was adequate to go before a jury for decision.