Court: Workers’ Comp Medical Exam not False Imprisonment in Michigan

A medical appointment that lasts hours might be an annoyance, but it’s not false imprisonment in Michigan.

A federal appeals court last week ruled in favor of an insurance company in a dispute over an exam for a man seeking to collect benefits for a workplace injury.

Craig Sheehan fell and injured his head while working for a trucking company. He sued an insurance company, claiming he was the victim of “false imprisonment” because he was told he could lose benefits if he wasn’t examined by a psychologist.

But the appeals court says Sheehan doesn’t have the law on his side. The court says he wasn’t “manually seized” by Star Insurance and was warned that he could lose benefits if he didn’t get the exam — not threatened.