Loren D Mohney v. American International Group ( 2013 )

Order Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
June 21, 2013 Robert P. Young, Jr.,
Chief Justice
146846 Michael F. Cavanagh
Stephen J. Markman
Mary Beth Kelly
Brian K. Zahra
Bridget M. McCormack
LOREN D. MOHNEY, David F. Viviano,
Plaintiff-Appellee, Justices
v SC: 146846
COA: 303797
MCAC: 06-000101
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP and
INSURANCE COMPANY OF THE STATE OF
PENNSYLVANIA,
Defendants-Appellants,
and
SECOND INJURY FUND,
Defendant-Appellee.
_________________________________________/
On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the January 31, 2013
judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered and, pursuant to MCR 7.302(H)(1), in
lieu of granting leave to appeal, we REVERSE the judgment of the Court of Appeals and
we REMAND this case to the Michigan Compensation Appellate Commission (MCAC)
for entry of an order denying plaintiff’s claim for worker’s compensation benefits. The
record shows that plaintiff’s injuries here did not arise “out of and in the course of” his
employment. In particular, the employer did not “own, lease, or maintain” the parking lot
on which plaintiff slipped and fell, and thus the coverage set forth in Simkins v Gen
Motors Corp (After Remand), 453 Mich 703, 723 (1996), is not applicable. Simkins held
that MCL 418.301(3), which provides that an “employee going to or from his or her
work, while on the premises where the employee’s work is to be performed . . . is
presumed to be in the course of his or her employment,” is applicable to the situation in
which such employee is injured on property “not owned, leased, or maintained by his
employer,” as long as he was “traveling in a reasonably direct route between the parking
area owned, leased, or maintained by the employer and the work-site . . . .” (Emphasis
added.) Whatever the merits of Simkins, we reject the extension of Simkins to the present
circumstances. There was simply no “ownership, lease, or maintenance” of the parking
lot by the employer.
2
CAVANAGH and MCCORMACK, JJ., would remand this case to the MCAC to
address unresolved issues raised by defendant American International Group in its initial
appeal to the MCAC and deny leave to appeal in all other respects.
I, Larry S. Royster, Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court, certify that the
foregoing is a true and complete copy of the order entered at the direction of the Court.
June 21, 2013
t0618
Clerk