Court Opinion

ID: 9669716
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:07:01.908523+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:59.891225
License: Public Domain

Hoekstra, J.
(concurring). I agree with the majority that Wright is entitled to no-fault benefits and that the decision of the trial court denying benefits must be reversed. I write separately because I do not believe Wright’s relationship to the owners of the car involved has any bearing on his right to receive the benefits at issue. Essentially, the basis of my disagreement with the majority lies in its desire to limit coverage for people joyriding to only those people related to the owners of the cars taken. I find no basis to limit the exception to the otherwise applicable statutory denial of coverage to only family members who joyride; rather, I would conclude that *253§ 3113(a)1 of the no-fault act does not deny coverage to anyone who is merely joyriding. Therefore, I would hold that § 3113(a) precludes coverage only where the person taking the vehicle unlawfully does so with the intent to steal and that the provision was not intended to exclude coverage for a person injured while joyriding in an automobile.
Unlike the majority, I find nothing in Priesman v Meridian Mut Ins Co, 441 Mich 60; 490 NW2d 314 (1992), that indicates to me that the Court intended to limit its discussion of joyriding to only family members. Although the joyrider in Priesman was related to the owner of the vehicle, I believe that was merely part of the factual basis of the case and did not establish a limiting parameter for interpreting the Court’s remaining discussion. I read the discussion in Pries-man, in which the Court determined that the legislators intended to except from personal protection insurance benefits only persons injured while driving a car they intended to steal, to be based upon the fact that the driver merely intended to joyride without regard to his familial relationship to the owner of the vehicle involved.

 MCL 500.3113(a); MSA 24.13113(a).