Opinion
Docket No. 15047.
Decided November 1, 1973. Leave to appeal granted, 391 Mich. 777.
Appeal from Wayne, Thomas J. Foley, J. Submitted Division 1 October 2, 1973, at Detroit. (Docket No. 15047.) Decided November 1, 1973. Leave to appeal granted, 391 Mich. 777.
Complaint by Raymond Yelder against Glen Stevens and Dennis Williams for damages resulting from an automobile accident. The Secretary of State, as Director of the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund, intervened as a defendant. Accelerated judgment for the Secretary of State. Plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.
Rader Eisenberg, P.C., for plaintiff.
Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Robert A. Derengoski, Solicitor General, and Joseph B. Bilitzke and Carl K. Carlsen, Assistants Attorney General, for defendant Secretary of State.
This case arose out of an automobile accident which occurred on January 26, 1969. Defendant Williams was apparently the owner of the auto driven by defendant Stevens. Plaintiff, a minor at the time of the accident, was injured in the rear-end collison. The named defendants were uninsured, and the Secretary of State intervened as a party defendant pursuant to § 5 of the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Act. MCLA 257.1105; MSA 9.2805.
Notice of intent to claim was given on May 22, 1969, pursuant to MCLA 257.1106; MSA 9.2806 as amended. Notice of claim was received within the six-month period set forth in MCLA 257.1118; MSA 9.2818. However, suit was not commenced until March 7, 1972, more than three years after the cause of action accrued. MCLA 257.1128; MSA 9.2828.
The trial court granted the Secretary of State's motion for accelerated judgment on the ground that the three-year limitation period had run, and thus plaintiff's cause was barred. Plaintiff appeals.
Plaintiff contends that his minority saved his cause of action under the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Act, by virtue of a "savings provision" in MCLA 600.5851(1); MSA 27A.5851(1) which provides for a one-year grace period for those formally under a legal disability.
This precise issue was decided contrary to plaintiff's position in Lambert v Calhoun, 48 Mich. App. 506; 210 N.W.2d 796 (1973). We adopt the majority opinion of Lambert.
Affirmed, costs to the intervening defendant.
FITZGERALD, J., concurred.
I would reverse and remand for the reasons stated in Judge HOLBROOK'S dissenting opinion in Lambert v Calhoun, 48 Mich. App. 506; 210 N.W.2d 796 (1973).