Citizens Insurance owes attorney fees after unfounded claim of suicide by pedestrian
In the consolidated cases of Citizens Insurance Co. v. Polony and Borgess Medical Center v. Citizens the Court of Appeals held that Citizens should pay attorney's fees to the family of the injury victim and her health care treaters. Citizens had refused to pay no fault PIP benefits for the care of the victim after she was struck by a car while jogging.
Citizens relied on the claim by the driver who hit Ms. Polony that she "ran into his car", and alleged that she was attempting to commit suicide: intentionally self-inflicted injury is one of the few exceptions allowing insurers to avoid paying no fault PIP benefits to an insured. The Court of Appeals pointed out that neither the Medical Examiner, the investigating police, nor the trial court believed that Ms. Polony was attempting suicide, and that there was ample evidence to support their conclusions, (for example, including a "to do" list and a grocery list for the day). Therefore, the trial court had erred by failing to award attorneys fees to the victim's family and health care providers: their claims had been denied unreasonably.