(MPRN-Lansing) The state Supreme Court will hear arguments on its opening day about whether Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act applies to a fund that was created by the Legislature, but operated by auto insurance companies.
The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association was created by an act of the Legislature, but it’s run by insurance companies. It’s funded through a fee on people who buy auto insurance. A group of doctors, hospitals, trial lawyers, unions, and policyholders has been trying for years to pry more information out of the MCCA. It says the information would be useful to policyholders, and the victims of catastrophic accidents whose care is financed by the fund, which is over $18 billion dollars.
The insurance industry says the MCCA is a private, not-for-profit fund, and exempt from Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act by both common law and an act of the Legislature. And that could be a critical turning point in the case.
Now it’s true the Legislature did adopt a law to exempt the MCCA from the Freedom of Information Act. But it may have circumvented a requirement in the state constitution. The exemption was put in the Michigan Insurance Code, but not into the FOIA. And that could violate the principal that the Legislature can’t amend a law by mentioning it another law.
The case is part of a larger fight over Michigan’s no-fault insurance law and its unlimited medical benefits to people with catastrophic injuries. Insurance companies would like to see those costs capped.
