BUCHANAN — When Phil and Kathie Hempel married, little did they know they would be marking their ninth wedding anniversary last Wednesday as their lives were being turned upside down.

The couple met online when Kathie, an employee of the Canadian Red Cross who was caring for her 93-year-old father, needed Internet help, and Phil, a “Yank” from Michigan, offered some advice. Kathie moved from Canada in 2002, when the couple married.

“The first romantic words that came from my husband were, ‘Huh?'” Kathie said.
Phil now calls his wife “my Internet babe.”

But Kathie said that this anniversary, “going into our 10th year, knowing my husband can’t even make it up the stairs …  is just crushing.”

The Buchanan couple has brought forth a lawsuit against two insurance companies refusing to cover medical bills Phil sustained for a serious injury car accident.

Phil, an independently contracted cab driver for American Transportation on Time, of South Bend, and two Niles women were injured in a two-vehicle crash at South 11th Street and Stateline Road Monday, Oct. 11.

The Berrien County Niles Township patrol responded at about 7:59 p.m. to a priority call of an injury accident with possible entrapment at the intersection.

Phil, 62, was driving a taxi northbound on South 11th Street entering Michigan when a car driven by Justine Nsumba, 21, of Niles, attempted to make a left-hand turn onto Stateline Road and turned in front of Phil’s vehicle.

He was unable to avoid the collision and crashed into the front passenger side of Nsumba’s vehicle, sustaining multiple injuries, including a shattered right leg, a fractured arm and ribs and torn ligaments in his left knee.

Nsumba had a front seat passenger, Dashonda Anderson, 18, of Niles, who along with Hempel and Nsumba, was injured as a result of the crash. Nsumba was an employee of Blessed Home Adult Foster Care, 1217 Stateline Rd., Niles, at the time of the accident.

Anderson was a resident of the facility.

All three people were transported with injuries to Memorial Hospital in South Bend.

Nsumba was issued a citation for “fail to yield” to oncoming traffic. She was not charged.

The owner of Blessed Heart would not confirm Friday whether or not Nsumba is still employed there, and a phone number or address for Nsumba could not be found.

Today, Phil, now confined to a wheelchair and hospital bed, must struggle with the fact that one thoughtless act changed his life forever, and he may even have hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills to boot.

He was hospitalized from Oct. 11 through Nov. 24 and has underwent two surgeries so far; at least one more will be necessary. He must be transported to Lakeland Rehabilitation Center three times a week, where he hopes to eventually regain use of his legs.

Although he may be able to return to full health by the end of this year or early 2012, Phil and Kathie’s income from their business, Blossomland Bee Supply, can not begin to dent the more than $350,000 in medical bills sustained thus far.

At the time of the collision, Phil was insured by Farm Bureau of Michigan and had a proper Michigan driver’s license, but Phil did not own the taxi. The cab was licensed and registered in Indiana by American Transportation on Time president Kerry Clear. Hempel provided all information to register him as a driver of the vehicle. Clear’s insurance company was First Chicago Insurance Co. of Chicago.

Farm Bureau initially told Phil they would cover all of his medical bills from the accident.

However, a provision under Michigan statutes states that if a driver drives a vehicle in Michigan for any 30 days in a year, that driver is considered owner of the vehicle.

On the date of the collision, Phil had not purchased insurance for the taxi, and it was impossible for him to have done so. The vehicle was not titled to him nor was the vehicle registered in Michigan. It was impossible for Phil to have purchased a Michigan no-fault policy to cover the taxi.

If a driver is a resident of a state other than Michigan and drives his or her vehicle in Michigan for 30 days or more during a year, the vehicle must be insured with a policy that provides Michigan no-fault coverage. If a driver is insured by a policy of insurance that is issued by a company that is not authorized to write insurance in Michigan, then the driver is at risk of being denied no-fault insurance coverage.

“Under Michigan law, he was completely disqualified for benefits,” said Hempels’ attorney,

Michael Marrs, of Stevensville, during a press conference at the Hempels’ home Friday.

The Hempels have taken action. Their attorney, Michael Marrs of Stevensville, filed a lawsuit against Farm Bureau General Insurance Co. of Michigan and First Chicago Insurance Co. The Hempels are seeking injunctive relief against the two companies and a declaration of their entitlement to full Michigan no-fault benefits. A hearing is scheduled for Monday in Berrien County Court in St. Joseph before Judge Alfred Butzbaugh.

“This is a situation where Indiana drivers need to check their insurance,” Marrs said. “You need to check your insurance policies. You need to talk to your agent. If you are driving a car you don’t own, you could be considered an owner.”

American Transportation on Time said they have added to their insurance with First Chicago since the accident.

Co-partner Heidi Davis said her company was surprised upon learning of Phil being denied coverage, “given we run out of Indiana.”

“We’re rooting for Phil; he’s a good driver,” Davis said Friday. “We feel awful that this happened to him.”

American Transportation has about 30 contracted drivers in Indiana and Michigan, she said. The company’s drivers — which had no accidents for about nine consecutive months — had four minor accidents the weekend prior to Phil’s crash, and had just sent a letter to drivers urging safe driving.

“Fifteen minutes later, we got a call from Phil,” Davis said.

Davis said she believes her company is being “villainized” in this case, and that Nsumba should be held responsible.

“She changed all of our lives,” Davis said, adding, “I’m hoping the insurance company does the right thing.”

A call to Farm Bureau of Michigan was referred to its attorney, Mike Ward, who did not return the call by press time. A call to First Chicago Insurance Co. was not returned.

As the lawsuit moves forward, the Hempels are moving forward one day at a time — knowing their lives will never be the same.

“To find myself in what I feel like a prison, and the person who caused the accident is out living life, I find that maddening to me,” Phil said Friday.

“I just think nobody should have to work as hard as he does to walk again,” Kathie said. “We don’t often cover what happens after the accident, and I think it’s time.”