2007 House Bill 4301 ↩

House Roll Call 35: Passed

To revise the definition of "serious impairment of body function" in the no fault auto insurance law. A person who causes such an injury may be subject to a lawsuit for “pain and suffering” damages otherwise barred by the no fault law. Under the bill the new definition would be, “an objectively manifested INJURY or impairment INVOLVING an important body function that, HAS AFFECTED, affects, OR MAY AFFECT the injured person's ABILITY to lead his or her normal life.” Under current law the statute reads, “an objectively manifested IMPAIRMENT of an important body function that affects the person's GENERAL ability to lead his or her normal life.” The bill adds new language that would establish that a person need not show that an injury or impairment “altered the course or trajectory of the person's life, caused the person to be generally unable or for the most part unable to live his or her normal life, or caused the person's life after the injury to be substantially different from the person's life before the injury; (or) that the injury or impairment, or its effect, was permanent, severe, substantial, extensive, or pervasive or lasted for a significant period of time; (or) that there were physician-imposed restrictions.” This relates to recent controversial Supreme Court decisions in and Straub v. Collette and in Kreiner v. Fischer, where the court held, "to determine whether one has suffered a ‘serious impairment of body function,’ the totality of the circumstances must be considered, and the ultimate question that must be answered is whether the impairment 'affects the person’s general ability to conduct the course of his or her normal life’”.