Opinion ID: 1658184
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: facts for issues i and ii

Text: Schiebout v Citizens Insurance Herman Schiebout owned two automobiles which were insured by the defendant. Mr. Schiebout's brother-in-law owned a business, the Recreational Center of Kent, Inc. The business owned a dump truck which Mr. Schiebout was allowed to use whenever he wished and did use an unspecified number of hours. In the winter of 1980-81, Mr. Schiebout used the dump truck to move a house, and then parked it at his home for the remainder of the winter. On May 21, 1981, he took the truck on the road to see if it would run after having been idle for several months. The truck's brakes failed and it collided with another vehicle, resulting in injuries to Margaret and Diane Bowers. The dump truck was not insured. When the Bowerses brought suit against Schiebout, he brought an action for declaratory judgment to determine the applicability of his policy with the defendant on his own automobiles, which contained an owned-vehicle exclusion. The trial court held that the accident was covered by Mr. Schiebout's policy. The Court of Appeals affirmed, 140 Mich App 804; 366 NW2d 45 (1985), and this Court granted leave to appeal, 422 Mich 973 (1985). Deyarmond v Community Service Insurance On September 12, 1980, William Deyarmond was involved in an automobile accident which took the lives of five members of the Houghton family. William was driving an automobile owned by his mother, Ester, and insured by Citizens Insurance Company. At the time of the accident, William was living with his mother and his brother, Steven. Steven owned an automobile which was insured in his mother's name by the defendant, Community Service Insurance. Wrongful death actions have been brought against William and Ester Deyarmond by the five Houghton estates. Citizens tendered its policy limits of $40,000. Ester Deyarmond brought a declaratory judgment action seeking additional coverage under her policy covering Steven's car. The defendant, Community Service Insurance, claimed coverage was unavailable due to the policy's owned-automobile exclusion. The trial court found for the plaintiff. Following this Court's denial of defendant's application for leave to appeal prior to decision by the Court of Appeals, the Court of Appeals reversed, 132 Mich App 191; 347 NW2d 201 (1984). We first held the case in abeyance for DAIIE v Widling, 420 Mich 549; 362 NW2d 227 (1984). Following the decision in that case, we granted leave to appeal, 422 Mich 973 (1985). Auto Club Insurance Association v Nicholson Paul Nicholson was one of three persons killed in an automobile accident which occurred on October 8, 1978. The driver was Keith Kron, who was operating an automobile owned by his sister, Karen. At the time of the accident, Keith and Karen were living with their parents, Gaylord and Jeannette, both of whom owned automobiles. All three family vehicles were insured in separate policies with the Auto Club. Nicholson's estate commenced a wrongful death action against Keith and Karen Kron. After litigation, the parties entered into a consent judgment which provided that the Auto Club defendant would pay the policy limits on the policy insuring Karen Kron's car and would seek a declaratory judgment regarding the coverage of the parents' policies. In this declaratory action, the circuit court held that the parents' policies did not cover the accident, because of the owned-automobile exclusion, and the Court of Appeals affirmed, 142 Mich App 168; 368 NW2d 875 (1984). After holding the case in abeyance for Widling, supra, this Court granted leave to appeal, 422 Mich 973 (1985).