TINA MORRIS V ALLSTATE INSUR CO
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
TINA MORRIS,
UNPUBLISHED
October 31, 2000
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v
No. 221425
Muskegon Circuit Court
LC No. 93-030587-CK
ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY,
Defendant-Appellee.
Before: Griffin, P.J., and Cavanagh and Gage, JJ.
MEMORANDUM.
Plaintiff appeals by right the order granting defendant’s motion for summary disposition under
MCR 2.116(C)(10), after remand from this Court. We affirm. This appeal is being decided without
oral argument pursuant to MCR 7.214(E).
Plaintiff was injured in a 1992 accident between two uninsured off road vehicles (ORV’s),
traveling on an undedicated road in Oceana County. Plaintiff brought this action for first party no-fault
insurance benefits under a policy issued on other motor vehicles she owned with her husband. The trial
court granted partial summary disposition, finding that the ORV’s were motor vehicles under the no
fault act, and that the road was a public highway. In Morris v Allstate Ins Co, 230 Mich App 361;
584 NW2d 340 (1998), this Court affirmed the finding that the ORV was a motor vehicle, but found
that there were factual issues regarding whether the road constituted a public highway, and remanded
the matter for further proceedings.
After remand, additional discovery was taken, and defendant moved for summary disposition.
The trial court granted defendant’s motion, finding that although the road was open to the public, the
infrequent maintenance provided by the county did not meet the requirements of a public highway.
MCL 257.20; MSA 9.1820.
The no-fault act defines a motor vehicle as a vehicle operated or designed for operation on a
public highway by power other than muscle power, which has more than two wheels. MCL
500.3101(2)(e); MSA 24.13101(2)(e). The no-fault act defines highway by reference to the motor
vehicle code. MCL 500.3101(2)(b); MSA 24.13101(2)(b). The vehicle code provides:
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“Highway or street” means the entire width between the boundary lines of every
way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for
purposes of vehicular travel. [MCL 257.20; MSA 9.1820.]
The evidence supports the trial court’s finding that the road was not publicly maintained. The
last incidental maintenance performed on the road occurred three years prior to the accident, and the
maintenance employee was instructed afterwards not to maintain the road because it was not a county
road. Infrequent maintenance and repairs by the county do not make a road a public highway. See
Keller v Locke, 62 Mich App 591; 233 NW2d 666 (1975).
Affirmed.
/s/ Richard Allen Griffin
/s/ Mark J. Cavanagh
/s/ Hilda R. Gage
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