The Michigan No-Fault Insurance Act provides for “survivor’s loss benefits” for family members/dependents of a person who dies in a fatal car accident. No-fault Insurance “Survivor’s Loss Benefits” include “tangible things of economic value” that the decedent would have provided to his or her survivors, if he or she had not been killed in the fatal car accident. See, e.g., MCL 500.0138(1).

In some cases, there are disputes about what constitutes “tangible things of economic value.” The phrase “contributions of tangible things of economic value” is a somewhat vague phrase, which the appellate courts have generally interpreted in a manner consistent with the plain language of the statute to include broadly things that have economic or “monetary” value.

In a recent published case, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that Social Security “old age benefits,” which a person killed in a car accident would have contributed to the household if he/she had not been killed in the car accident, are “tangible things of economic value” for the purposes of Michigan No-Fault “survivor’s loss benefits” under MCL 500.3108)(1). The published decision is Scugoza v Metropolitan Director Property and Casualty Insurance Co, (Court of Appeals Case No.: 327076, decided July 6, 2016).

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