Attorney Lauren A. Frederick successfully drafted and argued a motion for summary disposition in a first-party no-fault subrogation action. The plaintiff sued the defendant to recoup first-party no-fault benefits paid on behalf of the plaintiff’s subrogor, as the plaintiff claimed that the defendant was in a higher order of priority for payment of PIP benefits. After the case had been pending for over a year, the judge allowed the plaintiff-insurer to add an additional defendant-insurer as a “necessary party.” Though, the additional defendant-insurer never had notice of the accident. After the defendant-insurer filed a motion for summary disposition in lieu of an answer based upon the one-year notice requirement set forth in the No-Fault Act, the judge held that the court improperly joined the additional defendant-insurer to the action, and that the plaintiff-insurer failed to give the requisite notice. The plaintiff’s case was dismissed with prejudice.
08/29/2016