Order Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
July 25, 2008 Clifford W. Taylor,
Chief Justice
Michael F. Cavanagh
136069 Elizabeth A. Weaver
Marilyn Kelly
Maura D. Corrigan
Robert P. Young, Jr.
RENEE ELLIS, Stephen J. Markman,
Plaintiff-Appellee, Justices
v SC: 136069
COA: 275240
Wayne CC: 05-508314-CK
FARM BUREAU INSURANCE COMPANY,
Defendant-Appellant.
_________________________________________/
On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the February 12, 2008
judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is DENIED, because we are not
persuaded that the question presented should be reviewed by this Court.
MARKMAN, J., dissents and states as follows:
Plaintiff’s rental property was damaged as a result of arson. No one had been
living there for several months because plaintiff was in the process of renovating it.
Defendant, plaintiff’s insurer, refused to cover the damage because the policy excluded
fire damage when the property was “vacant or unoccupied beyond a period of 60
consecutive days.” After a bench trial, the trial court concluded that defendant was
liable. The Court of Appeals affirmed.
Plaintiff purchased the property on May 22, 2003. Within two-three weeks, the
tenant moved out. No one else lived on the property between that time and the time of
the fire on November 16, 2003. Thus, nobody was living at the property at the time of
the fire, nobody had lived at the property for nearly six months before the fire, and
nobody was planning on living there in the foreseeable future after the fire. I would hold
that the property was “vacant or unoccupied beyond a period of 60 consecutive days,”
and would reverse the Court of Appeals.
TAYLOR, CJ., joins the statement of MARKMAN, J.
I, Corbin R. Davis, 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.
July 25, 2008 _________________________________________
d0722 Clerk