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Insurer wrongly granted summary disposition on PIP claim where court order domiciled injured child with insurer's insured

Vincent Chaney sued Titan Indemnity for No Fault PIP benefits that should have resulted from a motor vehicle collision that occurred when he was a minor.  He was a passenger in a car involved in a wreck and required to make claim first to any policy applicable to a relative domiciled with him.  Titan insured his mother, with whom Chaney lived part-time at the time of the collision. Even though there was a divorce court order placing Chaney in the custody of his mother, the trial judge granted Titan summary disposition, holding without benefit of a trial that Chaney wasn't domiciled with his mother.  The Court of Appeals reversed, poining out that given the court order, there was a clear question of fact with regard to Chaney's domicile at the time of the collision. It also noted that absent a subsequent change in custody, the order of the family court was binding as a matter of law, with regard to the child's domicile.

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