A Detroit area mother expected a routine insurance process after a serious car crash. Instead, she found herself facing a lawsuit from her own insurer, accused of misrepresentation because she had not listed her 12-year-old daughter on a form, even though the child does not drive. The case has become a flashpoint in Michigan, highlighting how a technical detail buried in paperwork can flip a policyholder from claimant to defendant.
The dispute has also exposed a broader pattern in which parents say they are being penalized for not naming infants and young children on auto policies, with claims denied and coverage rescinded after collisions. For families who believed they were fully insured, the fallout has been financially and emotionally punishing.
The crash that led to a courtroom showdown
The Michigan woman at the center of the lawsuit, identified in multiple reports as a Southfield area mother, was injured in a crash and turned to her insurer for help with medical bills and other costs. She had paid premiums for years and, by her account, had no reason to suspect that anything about her coverage was in doubt when she submitted a personal injury protection claim. The collision left her with injuries and a damaged vehicle, and she expected the next communication from her insurer to be an update on benefits, not a legal threat.
Instead of a standard claim update, she received a letter stating that her policy was under review and that the company believed she had failed to disclose a household member on a personal injury protection attestation form. The missing name was her 12-year-old daughter, who does not have a driver’s license and was not behind the wheel at the time of the crash. According to detailed descriptions of the case, the insurer then moved to rescind the policy and filed suit against the mother, arguing that the omission amounted to a material misrepresentation that justified canceling coverage and seeking to avoid paying out a claim that could be worth upward of $25,000.
How a 12-year-old became the flashpoint
At the heart of the dispute is a technical requirement that policyholders list all household members on certain forms, including children who are far too young to drive. The Southfield mother has said she did not realize that her middle school aged daughter needed to be named on the personal injury protection paperwork, particularly because the girl does not operate a vehicle and was not alleged to have contributed to the crash. From the company’s perspective, however, the omission is treated as a failure to fully disclose risk, even if the child has never been behind the wheel…