CPAN – Coalition Protecting Auto No Fault
CPAN Files FOIA Lawsuit to Access

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                                                                                          CONTACT:  
Monday, January 23, 2012                                                                                                                                           Josh Hovey                
                                                                                                                                                                                          Truscott Rossman
                                                                                                                                                                                           (517) 487-9320
 
                                                                                   
CPAN Files FOIA Lawsuit to Access
Auto No-Fault Data
 
Information will help lawmakers make sound policy decisions
 
 
LANSING–The Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault (CPAN) filed a lawsuit today against the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA) to obtain vital information so lawmakers can understand whether the state’s auto no-fault system should be changed in the drastic way the insurance industry has proposed.
 
            The insurance industry and some House Republicans are trying to dramatically alter Michigan’s no-fault insurance system with House Bill 4936 and Senate Bill 649 by taking away lifetime medical benefits currently available to all Michigan motorists. They say Michigan’s no-fault insurance system is financially unsustainable and that without capping benefits and forcing strict cost controls on private healthcare providers, the MCCA will soon go bankrupt.
 
            “Every Michigan driver is required by law to pay into the MCCA,” said CPAN general counsel George Sinas. “It’s the public’s money and the public has a right to know all the facts about how their money is managed and whether what the public pays in premiums is adequate to handle future claims. Unless this information is available to the public and legislature, the MCCA will always be able to claim it has insufficient funds – and continue to ask the public to pay more.” 
 
            The MCCA was created by the state legislature in 1978. Its primary purpose is to reimburse Michigan auto insurance companies for personal injury claims that exceed $500,000. Each Michigan driver pays $140 annually to fund the MCCA, which currently covers about 13,000 auto accident victims.
 
            CPAN attempted to use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain records from the MCCA that would be very relevant to the MCCA’s claim that it will be in financial trouble at some point in the future unless people give up valuable insurance benefits. The information sought by CPAN is vital to state legislators, who must make an informed decision about the proposed reforms to Michigan’s auto insurance system. Unfortunately, the MCCA claims it is not required to produce the information requested because it is exempt from complying with the Michigan Freedom of Information Act due to a little known and obscure law that was enacted in 1988.
 
            CPAN’s lawsuit claims this 1988 “secrecy bill” is unlawful because the state Constitution prohibits lawmakers from amending laws by reference. Article 4, Section 25 of the Michigan Constitution states that laws “altered or amended shall be re-enacted and published at length.”
 
            “Michigan’s Constitution demands openness and accountability in the legislative process,” said Noah Hall, law professor at Wayne State University Law School, an expert on FOIA and advisor to CPAN on the lawsuit. “If the legislature wants to exempt the MCCA’s records from the Freedom of Information Act, the Constitution requires it to amend the Freedom of Information Act itself, not bury the exemption in an obscure part of the insurance code,” said Hall.  
 
            During House Insurance Committee hearings, several legislators asked for more data to help inform their opinion about the proposed auto insurance changes. State Insurance Commissioner Kevin Clinton testified in defense of the MCCA’s secrecy and said that even if the data was available, legislators and the public “wouldn’t understand.”
 
            "This lawsuit is about open and transparent government," said Hall. "The MCCA is a public body that collects millions of dollars from Michigan citizens, and we have a right to see the records of how that money is managed.”
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