The court’s jurisdiction; “Aggrieved party” requirement for an appeal of right; MCR 7.203(A)(1); Failure to preserve the right to appeal in a stipulated order dismissing the case; Distinguishing Jaber v P & P Hospitality, LLC; Uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage

The court held that it lacked jurisdiction to hear plaintiff-Ellington’s appeal because it could not say that she was an “aggrieved party” where she agreed in a stipulated order “without reservation to the dismissal of her ‘claims’ against” defendant-State Farm. State Farm was her auto insurer. Due to her opt-out, the “declarations page of her policy provided that she had ‘No Coverage For Medical Expense.’” The case arose after a hit-and-run auto accident. The trial court entered an order partially dismissing her UM/UIM “claim by dismissing with prejudice Ellington’s ‘claims for allowable medical expenses against’ State Farm.” After her motion for reconsideration was denied, the parties reached a settlement agreement, and she “signed a release of her uninsured motorist claim against State Farm.” The trial court later entered the stipulated order dismissing the case, from which Ellington now appealed. In Jaber, the court recently “determined that a party ‘may raise issues arising out of an earlier order relating to one party, even if the appellant has failed to reserve the right to appeal in a subsequent, stipulated order of dismissal as to another party.’” But it expressly declined to consider there “the question at issue in this appeal, i.e., whether a party ‘may raise issues arising out of an earlier order if the [party], while failing to reserve the right to appeal, subsequently enters into a stipulated order of dismissal as to the same party that was the subject of the earlier order.’” In this case, the “parties to the stipulated order are Ellington and State Farm. The language that [they] chose to use is broad, indicating that Ellington’s ‘claims against Defendant State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company shall be dismissed with prejudice and without costs to either party.’ Review of [her] complaint reveals that she only brought a single claim for [UM/UIM] coverage. Although the trial court’s earlier order precluded her from recovering medical expenses under that claim, there is no language reserving the right to appeal that earlier decision.” Dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.