The car accident lawyers of Michigan Auto Law wish our treasured readers a very Happy Thanksgiving. Our blog will resume December 2.

I recently taught a Michigan no-fault law class at Cooley Law School about third-party claims, or, in other words, suing the insurance company of the person who caused a car accident. I listed several examples to show the future lawyers how Michigan’s auto accident law, specifically Kreiner v. Fischer, discriminates against different types of people with its serious impairment of body function threshold — even when they sustain essentially identical personal injuries from car accidents.

Have you ever been in Centerline, Michigan at the corners of Van Dyke Avenue and 11 Mile Road, and avoided a car crash by mere seconds? Regrettably, there are many drivers who haven’t been so fortunate at this intersection. Last year, the junction hosted more than 650 car accidents. Due to such rush hour treachery, the accident lawyers of Michigan auto law have compiled a list of the 5 Most Dangerous Intersections in Southeast Michigan. Van Dyke Avenue and 11 Mile Road is at the top.

Our personal injury lawyers Lawrence E. Gursten and Steven M. Gursten have been named “The Best Lawyers in Metro Detroit” for 2009 by DBusiness Magazine. Below is a press release that appears on the PRWeb press release newswire.

Southfield, MI (PRWEB) November 18, 2008 – Car accident lawyer Lawrence E. Gursten and truck accident specialist Steven M. Gursten of Michigan Auto Law have been named “The Best Lawyers in Metro Detroit” for 2009 by DBusiness Magazine, a Detroit business journal.

The magazine honored Michigan lawyers who are well-versed in nearly every aspect of the law, including auto negligence, personal injury, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. The attorneys were chosen based on peer reviews from the Best Lawyers in America list for metro Detroit, by the Best Lawyers in America peer review publication.

Steve Gursten and Larry Gursten were named under the personal injury litigation specialty. Michigan Auto Law (Gursten, Koltonow, Gursten, Christensen and Raitt, PC) is a third-generation law firm with 16 lawyers specializing in helping people who have been seriously injured or killed in car accidents, truck accidents and motorcycle accidents throughout Michigan. The firm has received the top reported jury verdict for automobile accident cases in Michigan for four of the past seven years.

Michigan Personal Injury Lawyer Gives Winter Driving Tips to Get Season Started Right

On Monday, a man was killed in a multi-vehicle car accident on eastbound I-96 near Davison in Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reported. The area’s first hint of winter, which included a lot of black ice, also caused dozens of car crashes during the morning metro Detroit commute.

Sadly, this auto accident victim who was killed due to treacherous Michigan winter driving conditions will not be the last. People are killed from bad weather conditions every year in Michigan. With months of ice, snow and sleet yet to come, our car accident lawyers have compiled a list of winter safe driving tips that can save lives:

• Clear snow and ice from your vehicle to improve visibility. Include the hood, roof, trunk, turn signals, tail lights and headlights.

• Slow down on Michigan roads when visibility and road conditions are impaired.

• Increase the following distance between vehicles.

• Anticipate dangers like black ice on bridges and underpasses, hidden lane markings, stalled cars and poor visibility.

• Use proper winter braking techniques. If you have anti-lock brakes, which most cars and small trucks are equipped with today, stomp firmly on the anti-lock brakes. If you do not have anti-lock brakes, pump your brakes and steer into a skid.

• Avoid skids by easing off the accelerator and avoiding locking up the brakes.

• In a skid, steer in the direction you want your vehicle to go and straighten the wheel as soon as the car begins to veer in the desired direction.

• If you have been in a minor car accident on wintry roads, stay in your vehicle while you wait for help to arrive. If you get out to inspect the damage, you risk being hit by other vehicles.

• If your car stops or stalls, remain in the vehicle after turning on your dome light. If you need to run the car, do it only enough to stay warm and then shut it down again.

• Always keep heavy blankets, flares, a medical first-aid kit and other emergency items in your vehicle. Also, keep a flashlight, jumper cables and some type of warning device in your trunk.

• As always, buckle up! If you have children, please put your children in child safety seats. If the child is under 12 years old, the safest place is in the backseat.

Legacy of “Gang of Four” Haunts Accident Victims

Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Cliff Taylor is now unemployed, having lost his re-election bid to Judge Diane Hathaway last week. Under Taylor’s reign, the Court devastated the rights of accident victims throughout Michigan.

The personal injury lawyers of Michigan Auto Law have new hope that some of the Court’s most notorious holdings could change with Hathaway’s seat on the bench, and that the new Court could restore fairness and justice to Michigan tort and personal injury law in future years. Hathaway may bring needed balance to the Michigan Supreme Court. It will now consist of three Democrats, three Republicans and one moderate Republican, Justice Elizabeth Weaver; who is well-respected amongst Michigan lawyers and is considered a crucial swing vote.

Still, the devastation left behind by the former “gang of four” which had a tight grip on the Court, is shocking. With that in mind, our accident lawyers have put together a list of what we consider the greatest travesties of justice resulting from Chief Justice Taylor’s sway on the Court. These cases are still the law today. Many of them deal with the rights of people injured in auto accidents.

No. 1 on the list of judicial travesties is a case that has left thousands of car accident victims without any compensation for their serious personal injuries, Kreiner v. Fischer.

On Election Day, Michigan residents took a stand by ousting Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Cliff Taylor in favor of his Democratic challenger, Judge Diane Marie Hathaway. Voices rang clear that people were fed up with the extreme right-wing agenda that has controlled the Court, leading Michigan automobile insurance companies to report record-breaking profits, as injured people were cast aside.

Throughout Hathaway’s campaign against the “sleeping judge” beholden to powerful insurance companies, she promised she could be fair. That’s why the personal injury attorneys of Michigan Auto Law believe Hathaway’s elevation will put a halt to the extreme grip on the Court by the so-called “gang of four,” which has devastated Michigan accident victims for a decade. We also believe the new Court could overrule one of its most unfair and notorious decisions, Kreiner v. Fischer.

If you have been injured in a car accident on Michigan roads and need to know how much money you will be entitled to for wage loss from your personal injuries, the accident lawyers of Michigan Auto Law can help.

As of Oct. 1, 2008 through Sept. 30, 2009, the new statutory maximum for Michigan no-fault (personal injury protection, PIP) wage loss is $4,948 per month. In other words, if you are out of work due to debilitating injuries from a Michigan car accident, you are entitled to at most, $4,948 each month.

Based on the no-fault wage loss formula, which is 85 percent of one’s gross income tax-free, the maximum amount for wage loss equates to an estimated annual income of $70,000. So if you earn less than $70,000 per year, your income should be fully covered by no-fault wage loss benefits in the event of an auto accident.