Order Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
October 5, 2018 Stephen J. Markman,
Chief Justice
157215 Brian K. Zahra
Bridget M. McCormack
David F. Viviano
Richard H. Bernstein
Kurtis T. Wilder
RODNEY HARRISON, Elizabeth T. Clement,
Plaintiff, Justices
and
MICHIGAN HEAD & SPINE
INSTITUTE, PC,
Intervening Plaintiff-Appellee,
v SC: 157215
COA: 334083
Wayne CC: 14-013225-NF
ALLSTATE PROPERTY & CASUALTY
INSURANCE COMPANY,
Defendant-Appellant,
and
THURMAN CLIFFORD RIDENOUR,
Defendant.
_____________________________________/
On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the November 28, 2017
judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is DENIED, because we are not
persuaded that the questions presented should now be reviewed by this Court.
MARKMAN, C.J. (dissenting).
I respectfully dissent from this Court’s order denying leave to appeal. After
plaintiff was injured in a September 2014 accident, he sued his no-fault insurer,
defendant Allstate Property & Casualty Insurance Company, for unpaid personal
protection insurance (PIP) benefits including work-loss benefits. Plaintiff made various
and contradictory assertions throughout discovery to sustain his claim for work-loss
benefits. In particular, he stated in his interrogatory answers that he was employed by
TPH Transportation Services at the time of his accident, but later acknowledged at his
deposition that this was an “[i]naccurate statement” and that he had last been employed
by TPH Transportation Services in 2012. Furthermore, none of his assertions concerning
his income before and after the accident was corroborated; of the multiple companies that
he identified as current or former employers, not one was able to provide any sort of
2
proof to support his obviously exaggerated income assertions. Given these facts, the trial
court, in my judgment, correctly granted summary disposition in favor of defendant on
the ground that plaintiff committed fraud in seeking work-loss benefits, and the Court of
Appeals erred by ruling to the contrary. I would therefore reverse the judgment of the
Court of Appeals and reinstate the trial court’s ruling in favor of defendant Allstate.
I, Larry S. Royster, Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court, certify that the
foregoing is a true and complete copy of the order entered at the direction of the Court.
October 5, 2018
a1002
Clerk