Barred by the One Year Back? Not so Fast!

MCL 500.3145 previously provided that an individual could not recover benefits for any portion of the loss incurred more than one year prior to the commencement of a lawsuit. Since Devillers v ACIA, 473 Mich 562 (2005), this statute had been interpreted as having a firm one-year-back rule, meaning that there was no tolling, absent a showing of fraud.

On June 11, 2019, MCL 500.3145 was amended to legislatively overrule the decision in Devillers, and reinstate the claim-tolling provision from Lewis v DAIIE, 426 Mich 93 (1986), to allow tolling with regard to submission of a claim. Specifically, MCL 500.3145 provides that the one-year-back rule is tolled from the date of a specific claim for payment of benefits until the date the insurer formally denies the claim. However, tolling does not apply if the person seeking payment fails to pursue the claim with “reasonable diligence,” with that term being left undefined.

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