Michigan Laws 254.301a – Self-insurance of bridge assets and activities; agreement; self-insurance reserve account; payments; litigation
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Terms Used In Michigan Laws 254.301a
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- authority: shall mean the Mackinac bridge authority herein created. See Michigan Laws 254.301
- bridge: shall mean the project for the acquisition of which this act is adopted and shall mean a bridge or structure extending from the upper peninsula to the lower peninsula of Michigan, and shall be understood to include all of the following forming any part thereof or connected with or used or useful in the operation thereof: causeways, bridges, tunnels, roads, fills and approaches, or any combination thereof, parking space and facilities, park and recreation facilities, lighting facilities, terminal facilities, consisting of areas, structures and buildings in which rest rooms, waiting rooms, restaurant and similar facilities and other accommodations for the traveling public may be installed, including all fixtures, utility lines, accessories and equipment relating to any or all of the above, and including the improvement and beautification of such terminal areas at each end of the structure as may be designed to increase the use thereof, and including in all of the foregoing all real and personal property, tangible or intangible, licenses, franchises, easements and rights-of-way necessary thereto. See Michigan Laws 254.301
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- state: shall mean the state of Michigan. See Michigan Laws 254.301
(1) The authority may enter into an agreement with the state transportation department to provide for the self-insurance of bridge assets and activities. The agreement shall set forth the terms and conditions of the self-insurance consistent with this section.
(2) The agreement may provide that, to the extent that claims would otherwise have been paid under an insurance policy carried by the authority, the claims shall be paid from a self-insurance reserve account to be established and maintained by the authority. If there are insufficient funds in the account to pay a claim, the balance of the claim shall be paid by the state transportation department from funds constitutionally restricted to transportation purposes by section 9 of article IX of the state constitution of 1963.
(3) The self-insurance reserve account shall be funded by annual payments by the authority of at least $200,000.00 until the total of the account equals at least $1,000,000.00, as the authority and the state transportation department may agree. Once the account is fully funded, the authority may cease payments to the account except to the extent that the payments again become necessary to restore a balance of $1,000,000.00 after the payment of claims from the account.
(4) In any lawsuit filed against the authority for damages that are covered by the self-insurance agreement, the state transportation department shall defend the authority and control the course and disposition of the litigation as if the claim were against the state transportation department. The state transportation department shall advise the authority of pending litigation and consult with the authority regarding the potential disposition of the matter. The state transportation department’s cost of the litigation and any settlement or judgment shall be paid as a claim from the self-insurance reserve account or state transportation department funds as provided in this section and the agreement.