Opinion ID: 1658184
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: FACTS: DENNISON v WISNIEWSKI

Text: On September 11, 1980, plaintiff, Robert Dennison, was injured when the motorcycle on which he was a passenger was struck by an automobile driven by Myron Wisniewski and owned by Myron's father, Mitchell Wisniewski. Dennison filed suit against the Wisniewskis, seeking damages for his injuries. Mitchell carried a policy with the Auto Club insuring the car involved in the accident, which provided for residual liability coverage of $20,000 per person and $40,000 per incident. Myron had a policy on another vehicle which he owned, which provided for residual liability coverage of $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident. Both policies had owned-automobile exclusions. The insurer and insured parties, relying on the result in State Farm v Ruuska, 412 Mich 321; 314 NW2d 184 (1982), agreed that the policies were both applicable and could therefore be stacked. The injured plaintiff filed a garnishment action to determine the amount of coverage. Plaintiff argued that the policy limit of $50,000 was payable from Myron Wisniewski's policy. Garnishee defendant Auto Club claimed that, because the coverage that was being afforded ... was by operation of law (i.e., Ruuska 's invalidation of the exclusionary clause) and contrary to the express terms of the contract, no more coverage was afforded than the minimum liability coverage required by law. The trial court granted summary judgment for Auto Club. In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals reversed. We granted leave to appeal, 424 Mich 879 (1986).