PER CURIAM.
Intervening plaintiffs, Dr. Labeed Nouri and Dr. Nazih Iskander, appeal as of right the trial court order granting summary disposition in favor of defendant, IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company, in this action to recover first-party personal protection insurance (PIP) benefits under the no-fault act, MCL 500.3101. We affirm.
Plaintiff was involved in two car accidents, one on March 4, 2011, and the other one on October 20, 2011.
According to the October 20, 2011 police report, as plaintiff exited an alley in Detroit, her brakes "failed" and she hit another car. The police report indicates only two cars were involved. However, plaintiff's deposition testimony varied from that report. She claimed a third car was involved, explaining: "We were stopped. I saw a car, it was coming—it was coming like like an airplane was flying. He went and he did something and I don't know—until now I don't know how. Did I press the gas? I wanted to just get myself out of this problem and I hit another car as well."
Plaintiff filed the instant complaint on June 6, 2012, seeking to recover PIP benefits and uninsured motorist benefits from defendant. Doctors Labeed Nouri and Nazih Iskander, who treated plaintiff, intervened to recover PIP benefits payable to plaintiff for medical services they provided after the second accident.
Defendant moved for summary disposition, arguing that under the terms of the policy, PIP benefits and uninsured motorist benefits were precluded because of plaintiff's fraudulent representations. It also argued that because intervening plaintiffs stood in the shoes of plaintiff, they were not entitled to receive PIP benefits. In regard to uninsured motorist benefits, defendant argued that because no third vehicle had in fact struck plaintiff's vehicle, the plain language of the policy precluded the payment of uninsured motorist benefits.
The trial court ultimately agreed with defendant, and granted summary disposition in its favor. Intervening plaintiffs now appeal.
Intervening plaintiffs first argue that the trial court erred by granting defendant's motion for summary disposition with respect to their claim for PIP benefits. A grant or denial of a motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(10) is reviewed de novo. MEEMIC Ins. Co. v. DTE Energy Co., 292 Mich.App. 278, 280, 807 N.W.2d 407 (2011).
The no-fault policy at issue contained a general fraud exclusion, which provided: "We do not provide coverage for any insured who has made fraudulent statements or engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection
"The rules of contract interpretation apply to the interpretation of insurance contracts." McGrath v. Allstate Ins. Co., 290 Mich.App. 434, 439, 802 N.W.2d 619 (2010). The language in an insurance contract should be read as a whole, and we construe the language to give effect to every word, clause, and phrase. Id. "When the policy language is clear, a court must enforce the specific language of the contract. However, if an ambiguity exists, it should be construed against the insurer." Id. (citation omitted). Any undefined term should be given its plain and ordinary meaning, which may be gathered from dictionaries. Id. Although this Court will "construe the contract in favor of the insured if an ambiguity is found, this does not mean that the plain meaning of a word or phrase should be perverted, or that a word or phrase, the meaning of which is specific and well recognized, should be given some alien construction merely for the purpose of benefiting an insured." [Citizens Ins. Co. v. Pro-Seal Serv. Group, Inc., 477 Mich. 75, 82, 730 N.W.2d 682 (2007) (citation omitted).]
Because intervening plaintiffs stood in the shoes of the named insured, if plaintiff cannot recover benefits, neither can intervening plaintiffs. See, e.g., TBCI, P.C. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 289 Mich.App. 39, 44, 795 N.W.2d 229 (2010). Further, this Court has explained the requirements for establishing fraud or false swearing as follows:
We agree with the trial court that the fraud exclusion applied in the instant case. In order to substantiate her claim for replacement services, plaintiff presented a statement indicating that services were provided by "Rita Radwan" from October 1, 2011 to February 29, 2012. Because the accident occurred on October 20, 2011, on its face, the document plaintiff presented to defendant in support of her PIP claim is false, as it sought recoupment for services that were performed over the 19 days preceding the accident.
Moreover, defendant produced surveillance evidence depicting plaintiff performing activities inconsistent with her claimed limitations. Plaintiff was observed bending, lifting, carrying objects, running errands, and driving—on the dates when she specifically claimed she needed help with such tasks. Of particular note, on November 11, 2011, plaintiff represented that she required assistance vacuuming, cooking, dishwashing, making beds, grocery shopping, taking out the garbage, driving, and running errands. Yet, surveillance videos captured her performing various activities, such as lifting, carrying, and dumping a large bucket of liquid in her yard. On December 19, 2011, plaintiff sought replacement services for various household activities, including grocery shopping. But, on that day, she was observed running several errands from 11:05 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. Plaintiff indicated that on December 29, 2011, she required Radwan's
This evidence belies plaintiff's assertion that she required replacement services, and it directly and specifically contradicts representations made in the replacement services statements. Reasonable minds could not differ in light of this clear evidence that plaintiff made fraudulent representations for purposes of recovering PIP benefits. Stated differently, we find no genuine issue of material fact regarding plaintiff's fraud. See Mina, 218 Mich.App. at 686, 555 N.W.2d 1. Because plaintiff's claim for PIP benefits is precluded, intervening plaintiffs' claim for PIP benefits is similarly barred, as they stand in the shoes of plaintiff.
The trial court properly granted defendant summary disposition.
Intervening plaintiffs also argue that the trial court erred when it dismissed plaintiff's claims for uninsured motorist benefits. Their argument is meritless for several reasons.
Even assuming, arguendo, that intervening plaintiffs have standing to assert this claim, they sought only PIP benefits in their complaint. Moreover, under the language in the policy, plaintiff would not be entitled to uninsured motorist benefits. The uninsured motorist provision of plaintiff's policy provides:
In the applicable definition section of the policy,
The definition requires some sort of physical contact with the insured. In other words, for the third vehicle to be an uninsured motor vehicle under the policy, it had to hit plaintiff or cause another object to hit plaintiff. Plaintiff, however, admitted that she made no direct or indirect contact with the third vehicle during her second accident. Thus, this section would not apply. Furthermore, in light of plaintiff's fraudulent representations, discussed earlier, coverage would not be applicable under the policy.
Finally, intervening plaintiffs request sanctions under MCR 2.114 and MCR 2.625 for defendant's alleged material misrepresentations and filing of a
Because there is no genuine issue of material fact regarding plaintiff's fraud, and therefore her inability to recover benefits under the policy, we affirm the trial court's grant of summary disposition. Further, intervening plaintiffs have not established that sanctions are warranted.
Affirmed.
RIORDAN, P.J., and CAVANAGH and TALBOT, JJ., concurred.