Dismissal of "serious impairment" claim upheld on appeal
The Saginaw case brought by Julie Garcia against the driver who injured her, Dale Doyle, was dismissed in the trial court. The Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal, finding that Ms. Garcia did not satisfy the Taylor Supreme Court's Kreiner standard of "serious impairment". Ms. Garcia suffered a fracture of her seventh cervical vertebra.
Garcia's neck fracture caused her to miss about three months' work and to wear a soft collar for about eight weeks. Her absence from work also resulted in a demotion from car wash manager to a "brush" position. Although she had continuing shoulder pain, she described very few limitations on her normal activities, causing the Court to conclude that the impact on her general life was "de minimis" under the Kreiner analysis, particularly since she testified that she rarely needed her prescribed pain medications.