The Michigan Supreme Court changed its membership for the first time in more than 10 years with the November 2008 election, as Justice Diane Hathaway unseated former Chief Justice Clifford Taylor. The implications of this change are only beginning to be felt. Previously, Justice Taylor was part of a conservative majority that often voted 4-3 in favor of insurance companies and against insurance claimants and their providers. This majority now appears to be reversed with Justice Hathaway joining a new 4-3 majority often voting for insurance claimants. In a few short months at the start of 2009 the new majority has reversed several troubling decisions from the former majority. These include:

USF&G v. Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association. The Court has now made clear that the “MCCA” does not have the power to approve individual no-fault insurer claims decisions and must therefore reimburse such payments. This should serve to make settlements easier and decrease litigation, thereby saving the system untold millions of dollars.

Scott v. State Farm. In this case, the Court made clear that the standard required to prove the relationship between a benefit and a motor vehicle accident is relatively easy to meet, confirming the liberal nature of the no-fault system.

We hope that the Court will soon provide relief on two of the worst cases of the Taylor era: Kreiner (holding that the no-fault threshold for tort claims is extremely high and difficult to meet) and Cameron (holding that the no-fault “one year back” statute of limitations has no exception for mental illness or minority).