Michigan Attendant Care Home Modifications

According to Section 3107(1)(a) of the Michigan No-Fault Act, personal protection benefits are payable for all reasonable charges incurred for reasonably necessary products, services and accommodations for an injured person's care, recovery or rehabilitation. This will include home modifications after a serious personal injury from a car or truck motor vehicle accident.

Some of the issues that may arise when dealing with Michigan attendant care home modifications to care for car accident personal injuries include title, life estate, purchase or financial contribution, room and board (utilities, maintenance, taxes and insurance), fire or casualty, sale of property, change in medical condition, future obligations, institutionalization or death of injured person, family rent, changes in circumstance, and bars on future or other no-fault benefits. Most of these issues are dealt with in Kitchen v. State Farm, a 1993 Michigan Court of Appeals case.

In Williams v. AAA Michigan, the court held that it would be "manifestly unreasonable" to allow an insurance carrier to keep legal title to a home while only giving the plaintiff a life estate interest in it.

The court in Sharp v. Preferred Risk held that as long as a larger and better equipped house is necessary to provide Michigan attendant care services for the injured person, the full cost is an allowable expense.

Where a person with a car accident injury is unable to care for himself and would be institutionalized if a family member was unwilling to provide home Michigan attendant care, the no-fault carrier is responsible for the cost of maintenance, including room and board, in the home. Ask your Michigan auto accident attorney to see or explain Reed v. Citizens Insurance.

Money awarded for Michigan attendant care home accommodations is not payable until it is actually incurred, ruled the Michigan Court of Appeals in Mase v. Auto Owners Insurance.

In Dominick v. Auto-Owners Insurance, the court ruled that a Michigan attendant care home modification release, which prohibited future Michigan attendant care home modifications or accommodations barring a change in the plaintiff's medical condition, was valid.

Parties have options to collect Michigan attendant care home modification benefits for car accident injuries. They include suits for reimbursement and declaratory judgment actions.

Important resources for plaintiffs when dealing with Michigan attendant care home modification issues for car accident injuries includes physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians, case managers, architects, builders and occupational therapists.

In Bachman v. Swan Harbor Ass'n, et al., the Court of Appeals found that, with respect to article 5 of the Michigan Persons With Disabilities Civil Rights Act (PWDCRA), "a landlord's duty to accommodate a tenant with a Michigan attendant care disability requires those reasonable Michigan attendant care accommodations necessary for the disabled tenant's enjoyment of the premises as they relate to 'rules, policies, practices, or services,' but only when the Michigan attendant care accommodations will not result in an undue hardship on the landlord."

The court further held that "when a disabled tenant's accommodation request involves reasonable 'modifications of existing premises occupied,' a landlord cannot refuse to allow the modifications, at the expense of the person with a disability, if the modifications may be necessary to afford the tenant full enjoyment of the premises, and the modifications do not result in an undue hardship on the landlord."

What is Attendant Care? | Important Michigan Attendant Care Case Law
Home Modifications | Transportation & Van Modifications