VHS OF MICHIGAN INC V STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE

Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
Megan K. Cavanagh,
Chief Justice
Brian K. Zahra
Richard H. Bernstein
Elizabeth M. Welch
Kyra H. Bolden
Kimberly A. Thomas
Noah P. Hood,
Justices
Order
June 18, 2026
SC: 167464
COA: 365479
Wayne CC: 22-002236-NF
VHS OF MICHIGAN, INC., doing business as
DETROIT MEDICAL CENTER,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE
INSURANCE COMPANY,
Defendant,
and
MICHIGAN AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE
PLACEMENT FACILITY and CURRENTLY
UNNAMED ASSIGNEE OF THE MICHIGAN
AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE PLACEMENT
FACILITY, Defendants-Appellants.
By order of March 26, 2025, the application for leave to appeal the August 29, 2024
judgment of the Court of Appeals was held in abeyance pending the decision in Swoope v
Citizens Ins Co of the Midwest (Docket No. 166790). On order of the Court, the case
having been decided on March 10, 2026, ___ Mich ___ (2026), the application is again
considered. We direct the Clerk to schedule oral argument on the application. MCR
7.305(I)(1). The parties shall file supplemental briefs in accordance with MCR 7.312(E),
addressing: (1) whether the Court of Appeals correctly held that a person’s subsequent use
of a vehicle, even if not authorized by the owner, does not constitute a taking under MCL
500.3113(a), compare Landon v Titan Ins Co, 251 Mich App 633, 641-646 (2002), with
Spectrum Health Hosps v Farm Bureau Mut Ins Co of Mich, 492 Mich 503 (2012), and
Rambin v Allstate Ins Co, 495 Mich 316 (2014); and (2) whether plaintiff is barred from
recovering personal protection insurance benefits under the no-fault act, MCL 500.3101 et
seq., because, “at the time of the accident,” Michael Dantzler “was willingly operating or
willingly using a motor vehicle . . . that was taken unlawfully, and [he] knew or should
have known that the motor vehicle . . . was taken unlawfully,” MCL 500.3113(a).

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I, Elizabeth Kingston-Miller, Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court, certify that the
foregoing is a true and complete copy of the order entered at the direction of the Court.
June 18, 2026
a0616
2
Clerk
Insurance Alliance of Michigan, Michigan Defense Trial Counsel, Inc., CPAN, and
Michigan Association for Justice are invited to file briefs amicus curiae. Other persons
or groups interested in the determination of the issues presented in this case who are not
exempt from the motion requirement under MCR 7.312(H) may move the Court for
permission to file briefs amicus curiae.

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