On March 7, 2008 the world changed overnight for Michigan attendant care lawyers, the catastrophically injured and attendant care providers.  For the first time, the Michigan Supreme Court has extended the definition of “incurred” to include attendant care in a case called Burris v. Allstate Insurance Company.  Burris has the potential to wipe out hundreds of pending attendant care cases and jeopardize this important no fault benefit for many seriously injured people who currently depend upon it.

Our law firm recently responded to a question submitted online from a lawyer representing a person injured in a car accident.  I am re-posting that question and answer below to educate others about Michigan Car Accidents and the “Innocent Third Party Rule” designed to protect injury victims from fraud and misrepresentation.

Here’s the scenario:  
An innocent person is injured in a car accident; it’s discovered later that the person who caused the accident committed fraud with his/her auto insurance company; that insurance company then refuses to pay for injuries caused by its own negligent insured.  

Reprint of Steven M. Gursten’s Letter to Michigan Lawyers Weekly

Rarely does the Michigan Lawyers Weekly completely miss the point of an important case, but I feel compelled to respectfully suggest that your recent story on Benefiel v. Auto Owners Insurance Company¹ did exactly this.  

Benefiel is the most important automobile negligence case to be decided since the Michigan Supreme Court decided Kreiner v. Fischer.²   Benefiel is a published decision, and it may hopefully help lawyers and judges better understand Michigan’s chaotic threshold law.     

On March 5, 2008, AAA released a study revealing that car accidents kill 43,000 people every year. It is a staggering number. To put the number of car accident fatalities in perspective, it is the equivalent of two jumbo jets crashing every week, killing everyone aboard.

Car Accidents Cost Also Staggering

The cost of it is also staggering. Car accidents cost over $164 billion dollars a year. That figure is more than double the $67.6 billion in annual costs from congestion, which unfortunately, is the figure that politicians and the media usually focus on instead. Hopefully, this study will realign priorities and more effort will be placed on preventing car accidents and public safety when studying the costs of transportation. (Note: car accident cost was calculated by taking into account the crash costs, property damage, lost earnings, medical costs, emergency services, legal costs and travel delays.)

Truck accident cases must be handled very differently than car accidents, and Michigan lawyers must be familiar with the latest truck driver requirements and regulations to recover full compensation for injured clients.  An important rule change will now directly impact how attorneys litigate truck accident personal injury cases in Michigan.

New Truck Driver Requirement: “must read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public”

When a truck accident occurs in Michigan involving a Canadian truck or Canadian driver, a Michigan lawyer can file a lawsuit naming both the company and the driver.  The lawsuit can be filed in federal court (in Michigan).  But many Michigan lawyers handling truck accident cases are not aware of this recent change in federal law.