Court upholds summary dispostion of State Farm's PIP defense

State Farm appealed the trial court's decision granting summary disposition in Gossett v. State Farm.  Gossett had claimed medical care expenses and attendant care support after a motor vehicle collision. She presented testimony of unrelenting headaches after her head struck the windshield and supported her testimony with the testimony of the treating neurologist and a rehab specialist.

State Farm argued that Gossett's complaints were similar to complaints she raised after a serious car wreck 12 years earlier and argued that it should be allowed to seek a jury ruling with regard to whether the current complaints were caused by the 2008 car accident.  The trial court pointed out that State Farm had mistakenly focused its defense on being a lower priority no fault insurer and held that it had failed to rebut the causation proofs submitted by Gossett.

The Court of Appeals upheld this ruling.  It determined that the credibility issues raised by State Farm were insignificant, that State Farm had failed to offer medical testimony to support its claim of lack of causal relationship, and that on the record before it, summary disposition of Gossett's medical claims was appropriate.