Home Insurance Policy Covers Gunshot Victim's Medical Expenses

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/12/2025) Whether an insurance company has liability in a lawsuit filed by a 6-year-old boy shot by their insured's live-in boyfriend is back in the hands of the trial court.

In a 2-1 published decision by Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Noah P. Hood, the panel held the trial court should not have ruled in favor of American Select Insurance Company, who argued the policy for their insured, Michele Inhmathong, did not cover injuries caused by her boyfriend blindly shooting someone out a window.

The majority, including Judge Christopher M. Murray, held that injuries to the boy, identified in court documents as "CAD," were an "occurrence" under Inhmathong's homeowner's insurance policy because she permitted "the reckless handling and use of a firearm on her property." 

Appeals Judge Michael J. Kelly dissented, holding the majority's conclusion "describes the allegations against" Inhmathong and her boyfriend, Ryan Cuong Le-Nguyen, but "it does not accurately state what the occurrence was.

"In my view," Kelly wrote, "the occurrence was the gunshot intentionally fired by Le-Nguyen that resulted in the child being injured."

American Select Insurance Company sued Inhmathong, Le-Nguyen and CAD in November 2022, arguing Inhmathong's homeowner's policy did not provide coverage related to the boy's July 2021 civil lawsuit claims against Inhmathong and her boyfriend.

The Washtenaw County Circuit Court judge sided with American Select, but the appeals panel's Friday opinion reverses that holding, sending the case back to the trial court for further proceedings.

In June 2021, Le-Nguyen blindly fired through Inhmathong's living room window, striking the 6-year-old boy, who was playing "monkey in the middle" with friends outside his Ypsilanti Township home. The boy was shot in the upper arm.

In July 2021, the boy's legal representative filed a lawsuit against the couple, alleging Le-Nguyen shot him as he tried to retrieve his bicycle from their front yard. 

Le-Nguyen pleaded no contest in March 2022 to discharging a firearm in a building causing injury and felony firearms, and he was sentenced the following month to 40 months to 15 years in prison.