In this decision (attached) and another one, Casey v Stachlewitz, Unpublished Decision of the Michigan Court of Appeals, February 22, 2011 (Docket No.295835), the Michigan Court of Appeals has applied the Michigan Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in McCormick v Carrier, 487 Mich 180 (2010) retroactively to decisions rendered by trial courts under the prior standard for determining “serious impairment” to recover non-economic damages under Michigan’s No-Fault Act.

In both cases, the trial court had applied the prior standard established in Kreiner v Fisher, 471 Mich 109 (2004) to the plaintiff’s claims concerning whether or not and to what extent the plaintiff would be able to establish “serious impairment” of a bodily function to recover non-economic “tort” damages under Michigan’s No-Fault Act. The trial court decisions were rendered prior to the 2010 McCormick decision.