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In re Estate of Arnold9/16/2003
UNPUBLISHED
Plaintiff estates appeal by delayed leave granted the order granting summary disposition in favor of defendant insurance companies pursuant to MCR 2.116(I)(2) upon a finding that the settlements received by plaintiffs from other insureds who shared responsibility for the deaths of plaintiffs' teenage decedents completely set-off defendant insurance companies' obligations to pay uninsured motorist benefits under their respective policies. We affirm. This appeal is being decided without oral argument pursuant to MCR 7.214(E).
On March 7, 1999, the traffic on westbound I-196 came to a stop near the Ottawa Avenue entrance ramp as a result of the conduct of Stephen Adams, who was driving his motor vehicle eastbound in the westbound lanes of I-196. The motor vehicle operated by plaintiff's decedent Bret Arnold was stopped near the end of a line of westbound vehicles that had stopped as a result of the wrong-way driving of Adams. Plaintiff's decedent Megan Herr was a passenger in Arnold's vehicle. After Arnold stopped his vehicle, a motor vehicle operated by intoxicated driver Kerry Brougham and traveling westbound on I-196 slammed into the rear of Arnold's vehicle, causing Arnold's vehicle to burst into flames and killing Arnold and Herr.
The Kent County prosecutor charged both Adams and Brougham with manslaughter. Brougham pleaded guilty, and a jury convicted Adams as charged. Additionally, both were named in a wrongful death and dram shop suit, as were Brougham's mother (the owner of the vehicle Brougham was driving), a sports bar, and Chrysler (the manufacturer of the vehicle Arnold was driving). Eventually, this suit was settled against all defendants except Adams, with Arnold's and Herr's survivors each being paid a combined total of $315,000. The settlement documents provide that the payments are exclusively for the survivors' loss of society and companionship. Each estate also took a default judgment against Adams in the amount of $1,000,000 exclusively for Arnold's and Herr's conscious pain and suffering. Adams is not insured, however.
The parents of both Arnold and Herr had no-fault insurance policies that included uninsured motorist coverage. Defendant Auto-Owners insures the Arnolds and their policy provides uninsured motorist coverage in the amount of $250,000 per person. Defendant State Farm insures the Herrs and their policy provides uninsured motorist coverage in the amount of $100,000 per person. Both policies provide for offsets against this coverage. The Arnold and Herr families filed claims for uninsured motorist benefits under these policies. Defendants denied their claims as premature pending the outcome of the wrongful death and dram shop suit. Plaintiffs then commenced the present suit.
Once the wrongful death and dram shop suit was resolved, plaintiffs moved for summary disposition, arguing that the manner in which the suit was settled against all of the defendants but Adams did not allow for a set-off of the settlement amounts against the limits of the uninsured motorist benefits and, therefore, that plaintiffs were entitled to payment of the policy limits. Defendants responded that they were not obligated to pay any uninsured motorist benefits once the settlement amounts were offset as required by the set-off provisions in the respective policies. Following a hearing on plaintiffs' motion for summary disposition, the trial court denied plaintiffs' motion and granted summary disposition in favor of defendants.
This Court reviews de novo a trial court's decision on a motion for summary disposition. Farm Bureau Mutual Ins Co v Buckallew, 246 Mich App 607, 611; 633 NW2d 473 (2001). Additionally, the constructio
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