On February 14, 2008, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled against State Farm Insurance Company on an important new uninsured motorist case (Suminski v State Farm).  State Farm, it seems, did not act like a good neighbor, which comes as no surprise to Michigan No Fault Attorneys.  The surprise with this case is that State Farm’s pattern of bad acts towards injured policy holders did not work in favor of the insurance company (this time).

There is a new auto new insurance company delay tactic in Michigan. Claims adjusters are putting innocent people “under investigation” to avoid or delay paying auto no fault insurance PIP benefits. These are lawful, reasonable, no fault claims made by people that were injured in Michigan car accidents. This blog explores how and why illegal delay tactics work for insurance companies, which companies deploy such tactics, what 3 options are available for injured people “under investigation”, and what Michigan Lawyers can do to help their clients.

The consequences of driving a car without auto no fault insurance in Michigan are exceptionally harsh.  A recent case, released on January 29, 2008, illustrates just how severe these consequences will be.  

Steven Gursten will be speaking on February 12, 2008 at Cooley Law School.  Steve will be speaking to the law students on future legal careers in personal injury and insurance law.  The lecture is being presented through the Career and Professional Development Office of Cooley Law School, in Lansing Michigan. 

Steven Gursten will be moderating and speaking at the Litigating Truck Collision Cases program this Friday and Saturday, in New Orleans, LA.  The seminar is presented through the American Association for Justice, formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. 

The program is an advanced litigation and trial skills seminar intended to help prepare lawyers to better understand how to litigate truck accident injury cases.   This program is only open to attorneys who represent injury victims.

Topics will include:

• Understanding NHTSA – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Relevant Case law for lawyers handling truck accident cases

I was interviewed today by the Michigan Lawyers Weekly about an important new auto accident decision released December 27, 2007, called Benefiel v. Auto Owners Insurance Company.  For Michigan lawyers who litigate automobile accident cases, this is the first case to analyze what the Michigan Supreme Court meant when it wrote in Kreiner v. Fischer that the relevant period of inquiry after a car accident is a person’s “whole life,” finding: “we do not require that every aspect of a person’s life must be affected in order to satisfy the tort threshold…Rather, in a quite distinct proposition, we merely require that the whole life be considered in determining what satisfies this threshold, i.e., whether an impairment “affects the person’s general ability to lead his or her life.”  Kreiner at 133 fn 16.