RICHARD JOSEPH YOUSIF V CITY OF STERLING HEIGHTS
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
HELIN YOUSIF, as Next Friend of RICHARD
JOSEPH YOUSIF, a Minor,
UNPUBLISHED
October 29, 2009
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 288302
Macomb Circuit Court
LC No. 2007-002624-NI
CITY OF STERLING HEIGHTS,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Murray, P.J., and Markey and Borrello, JJ.
MURRAY, P. J. (dissenting).
With all due respect to my esteemed colleagues, I dissent from their opinion affirming the
circuit court’s order denying defendant’s motion for summary disposition. In my view, the Gator
involved in the accident is not a motor vehicle for purposes of the motor vehicle exception to
statutory governmental immunity, MCL 691.1405. In reviewing the exhibits attached to the
appellate briefs, the Gator much more resembles a golf cart that was found not to be a motor
vehicle in Overall v Howard, 480 Mich 896; 738 NW2d 760 (2007), than it does a motor vehicle.
Consistent with the definition of motor vehicle adopted by the Court in Stanton v City of Battle
Creek, 466 Mich 611, 618; 647 NW2d 508 (2002), the Gator is not an automobile, truck, bus, or
similar motor vehicle but is instead more like a golf cart that is not intended to be driven on a
roadway and has many of the same limitations in size, capacity, and engineering that a golf cart
has.1 In an attempt to be consistent with existing precedent, I would reverse the trial court’s
order on the basis of Overall and remand for entry of an order granting defendant’s motion for
summary disposition.
/s/ Christopher M. Murray
1
The unrefuted evidence shows that the Gator has a maximum speed of 18 miles per hour, does
not need to be registered with the Secretary of State, and was not intended for use on or along a
roadway.
-1-
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