The auto accident lawyers of Michigan Auto Law wish our clients, friends and family a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are thankful for you, the people we have the honor of helping in your times of need. Our greatest satisfaction is having happy clients who can confidently refer their loved ones, knowing our attorneys can provide the best legal help available following an automobile accident. Happy holidays!

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Southfield, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with a lawyer. There is absolutely no fee or obligation.

Auto accident attorney gives tips to keep you safe during Michigan’s “biggest bar night of the year”

Some say the night before Thanksgiving is the “biggest bar night of the year” in Michigan. Take a look at most drinking establishments and you’ll see them packed to the brim with people starting their holiday early — often with lots of cheap drinks. While this may sound well and good, our car accident attorneys have seen dire consequences that can arise first-hand: Catastrophic accidents at the hands of drunk drivers.

One thing that makes attendant care cases so difficult is that there is not a readily accessible definition of what exactly attendant care (AC) is. Many people have never even heard of this no-fault benefit. To put it simply, our car accident attorneys say attendant care benefits (also referred to as nursing services) are “activities of daily living.”

Adding to the misunderstanding of attendant care, many Michigan insurance companies are not exactly forthcoming about telling people who have been injured in auto accidents that they’re entitled to it.  Some insurance companies just completely lie and deny attendant care exists — even when asked directly by their own severely injured customer, or the injured person’s caregiver.

As a car accident attorney, I always tell my clients that playing around on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or other similar social networking sites can have dire consequences for an auto accident case.

For example, insurance adjusters and defense attorneys will investigate your accounts, Web pages and blogs — even when set as ‘Private’ — and look for things that can help them avoid taking full responsibility for the harms they have caused. The purpose of this Internet research is to attempt to show that you are not as injured as you claim.

Car Accident Lawyer Highlights Court Trend Requiring Permanent Injuries for Plaintiffs to Win

I’d like to remind my fellow car accident lawyers that judges in Michigan are forgetting injuries do not need to be permanent to be serious. This is exemplified in O’Keefe v. Auto Club, an unpublished Michigan Court of Appeals win for an auto accident victim who sustained neck and back injuries.

I make note of it because although the plaintiff wins, this case perpetuates the problem of seemingly requiring that an impairment is permanent in order for it to qualify as a serious impairment of body function. In O’Keefe, the fact that saves the day for the plaintiff’s claim is that her residual impairments “appear to be permanent.”

I was recently interviewed by Chicago Fox 2 News reporter Larry Yellen.  Larry was looking for an attorney who is a national expert on serious truck accidents caused by truckers who are drunk or high. Below is the investigative television story and article. A sincere thank you to Larry, for shedding more light on this national crisis.

View Video

Drug Abuse Among Truck Drivers

Monday, 09 Nov 2009
By Larry Yellen, FOX Chicago News

Chicago - Truck drivers might be using drugs to stay alert, or to relieve stress during long, lonely trips. And because of drug abuse, there are more strict drug-testing programs throughout the industry.

Truck Accident Lawyers Need to Hold Decision Makers Accountable

Kudos to my friend, Ken Shigley, an excellent Atlanta attorney and truck accident lawyer. Ken recently wrote a blog post that suggests the only real way to deter trucking companies from intentionally violating the law is to hold truck company owners and officers personally liable for their participation in dispatching unfit drivers on trips that cannot be lawfully completed. I am not yet aware of a Michigan case adopting this rationale, but as I discuss below, it is certainly something I believe lawyers specializing in truck accident litigation should be pursuing.

Jose Brown, the chairperson of the State Bar of Michigan Negligence Law Section, wrote an excellent rebuttal to the Detroit Free Press Oct. 11 editorial on the Michigan Supreme Court. Mr. Brown is an insurance defense attorney, and as a car accident lawyer, I respect him very much. He is also highly regarded by many other lawyers and judges.

If you read the series of blogs I’ve written about America’s bad trucking companies lately, you know how strongly I feel about the importance of truck accident lawyers having the ability to discover the crash history and illegal drug and alcohol abuse of truckers. About 15 people are killed every day as a result of truck accidents, creating a public safety crisis in Michigan and across the nation. But an amazing new development has occurred that might really start making a difference in protecting the public and keeping unfit truckers off our roads.