JOANN SPARKS V CITIZENS INSURANCE CO
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
JOANN SPARKS,
UNPUBLISHED
May 25, 2010
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v
No. 289395
Genesee Circuit Court
LC No. 07-087473
CITIZENS INSURANCE COMPANY OF
AMERICA,
Defendant-Appellee.
Before: METER, P.J., and MURRAY and BECKERING, JJ.
MURRAY, J. (concurring).
Although defendant does not specifically argue that plaintiff’s unemployment at the time
of the accident in and of itself precluded recovery under MCL 500.3107(1)(b), I feel compelled
to nonetheless note my agreement with Judge O’CONNELL’s dissent in Sullivan. Sullivan v North
River Ins Co, 238 Mich App 433, 439-440; 606 NW2d 383 (2000). As Judge O’CONNELL stated
in that opinion, both the statute and our Supreme Court’s analysis of it in Popma v Auto Club Ins
Ass’n, 446 Mich 460, 466; 521 NW2d 831 (1994), indicate that “[t]he provisions governing the
award of work-loss benefits are contingent on the employment status of the claimant at the time
of the accident.” Thus, the Popma Court held that “[a]n employed claimant’s work-loss benefits
are calculated pursuant to MCL 3107(1)(b),” id. at 473, “while § 3107a applies when a claimant
is temporarily unemployed[,]” id. at 466. In other words, “[s]ection 3107(1)(b) applies when a
claimant is working at the time of the accident,” id., and because plaintiff was not actively
employed at the time of the accident, she should be precluded from pursing her claim under
§ 3107(1)(b).
/s/ Christopher M. Murray
-1-
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