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State loses key immunity decision in snowmobile crash

DETROIT, MI (AP)— A snowmobile driven by state employees is a motor vehicle under Michigan law.

It's a key decision from the state Supreme Court because it could make taxpayers liable in a crash that injured two people in 2018. The issue was whether the Department of Natural Resources could claim governmental immunity and avoid legal responsibility for a crash in Antrim County.

Audrey West says she and her father were forced to swerve when two DNR officers on snowmobiles were traveling in the wrong direction. She was thrown into a river while her father was pinned under his snowmobile.

The Supreme Court decided Friday to let a Court of Appeals opinion stand against the DNR.

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