PAULA MARIE CRANE V MICHELLE ANN GLOVER
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PAULA MARIE CRANE,
UNPUBLISHED
April 21, 2000
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v
No. 207847
Oakland Circuit Court
LC No. 96-510929-NI
MICHELLE ANN GLOVER,
Defendant-Appellee.
Before: Gribbs, P.J., and Doctoroff and T. L. Ludington*, JJ.
MEMORANDUM.
Plaintiff appeals as of right the opinion and order entered pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(7),
dismissing her action on statute of limitations grounds. We affirm.
On June 1, 1990, plaintiff and defendant were involved in an automobile accident. In her
application for benefits from her insurer, plaintiff noted that she injured her left shoulder, was bruised,
and she had stiff muscles and a stiff neck. In June of 1995, plaintiff was seen by her family physician,
and reported numbness in her hands. She was subsequently diagnosed with a herniated disc, which she
attributed to the accident. She filed this action on January 3, 1996, and asserted that it was timely filed
within one year of the discovery of her neck injury. The trial court granted defendant’s motion for
summary disposition on statute of limitations grounds.
A simple negligence cause of action accrues when a prospective plaintiff first knows or
reasonably should know she is injured. Stephens v Dixon, 449 Mich 531, 538; 536 NW2d 755
(1995). In a no-fault insurance action, a plaintiff cannot extend the statute of limitations by claiming that
her cause of action did not accrue until her injury reached the threshold status of serious impairment of
body function. Id., 540-541. The discovery rule is not available in a case of ordinary negligence where
a plaintiff merely misjudges the severity of a known injury. Id., 537.
* Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.
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In Schultz v Black (On Remand), 215 Mich App 248; 544 NW2d 741 (1996), this Court
interpreted Stephens, and found that if the plaintiff presented evidence that she neither knew or should
have known that she sustained any injuries in a traffic accident, the discovery rule applied.
The facts in the instant case are similar to those presented in Stephens. Plaintiff was aware she
sustained an injury in the traffic accident. She reported injuries to her own insurance company, including
a stiff neck. Although plaintiff did not discover the extent of her neck injury for several years, the
discovery rule is unavailable in a case of ordinary negligence where a plaintiff merely misjudges the
severity of a known injury. Stephens, supra, 537.
Plaintiff’s claim accrued at the time of her injury in 1990. The trial court properly found that her
claim was barred by the applicable three-year statute of limitations. MCL 600.5827; MSA 27A.5827.
Affirmed.
/s/ Roman S. Gribbs
/s/ Martin M. Doctoroff
/s/ Thomas L. Ludington
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