Michigan Auto Law thanks Justice Elizabeth Weaver for her dedication, service to Michigan

A momentous sea change has just occurred on the Michigan Supreme Court.

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Weaver resigned. And a short time later, Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Alton Davis to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Justice Weaver was an excellent justice.  A Republican from Northern Michigan, she stood up for the integrity of the Court. This caused her to come increasingly into conflict with the three remaining arch-conservative and activist justices – Young, Markman and Corrigan.

How people with significant pre-existing medical conditions and Social Security Disability can still recover after a car accident in Michigan

I am thrilled for Jeff and Lisa Chase. Jeff is my client, and he just achieved an important victory for all auto accident victims with his recent win in the Michigan Court of Appeals. Just as important, his case, Chase v. Pomilia, et al. addresses some of the greatest travesties of justice that have plagued car accident victims  under Michigan’s auto law since Kreiner v. Fischer.  Hopefully, this new decision can be used by lawyers representing clients who have significant pre-existing medical histories - to help judges understand that a less-than-perfect pre-accident life is still a life of value and worth that is compensable under Michigan’s current threshold law.

So-called textualist judges dismiss bus accident cases  based on false logic while ignoring  law that works in bus accident victims’ behalf

I’ve helped a number of personal injury victims injured in serious bus accidents over the years. But recently, the law has swung hard against the rights of Michigan residents injured in bus accidents. The way Michigan judges are now treating bus accident victims is outrageous. In a recent spate of bewilderingly unjust cases, appellate judges have approved the dismissal of bus victims’ lawsuits based on a hyper-technical argument made by bus lines that defies justice, common sense, morality and logic.

Bus line again exploits loophole to escape responsibility for bus accident

For the third time in almost as many months, SMART bus has used a Michigan law that puts form over substance to avoid responsibility for causing a bus accident that resulted in serious injuries.

By claiming its accident victims didn’t report their personal injuries (even though the bus line already knew about the injuries and crashes from multiple other sources), SMART bus has successfully argued that victims’ lawsuits should be thrown out of court. SMART bus contends these plaintiffs failed to comply with a Michigan law that requires accident victims to personally notify transportation authorities, such as SMART bus, about their injuries after a bus accident.

Tragic bus accident result shows why Michigan law must change

Talk about putting form over substance. That’s exactly what happened after a SMART bus accident caused serious injuries to a completely innocent woman. SMART bus relied upon putting form over substance to allow it to escape responsibility for serious, debilitating personal injuries it caused one of its most vulnerable wheelchair-bound passengers.

In Eugene Rose v. Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation [SMART bus], et al., SMART bus got Eugene Rose’s lawsuit thrown out of court by insisting it didn’t have proper “notice” of the injuries Mr. Rose suffered in a Detroit accident involving one of its buses - even though SMART bus knew about both the bus accident and the serious nature of Mr. Rose’s injuries.

Detroit Lawyer to Share Experience with Wayne State University Law School Students

Tonight I will  be speaking to a Wayne State University Law School trial advocacy class, taught by Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Elizabeth Gleicher. As a personal injury attorney specializing in car accidents, I’m going to be sharing real-life advice with the law students on how to be a successful litigator and trial lawyer. I plan to use a mock auto accident case.

Greg Gromek of Plunkett Cooney will be speaking on how he would defend the case from an insurance defense perspective.

What happens when Michigan no-fault law and real-life medicine conflict?

Our attorneys tell people that the law in Michigan is black and white: Anyone injured in a car accident must provide information as to the nature or type of injury to his auto insurance company within one year, or the insurance company can deny payment for medical bills and other no-fault benefits (MCL 500.3145(1)).

It’s very easy to comply with a one-year notice provision when there is a physical injury like a broken arm - after all, it hurts immediately and upon X-ray, it’s either there or it isn’t. Notice for a tangible injury like this on an application for benefits to an auto insurance company can be easily made.

When Susan Al-Maliki was seriously injured in a rear-end car accident, she never thought it would be a Wayne County Circuit Court judge in Detroit who would pose the greatest obstacle to her pain and suffering claim reaching a jury.

Without warning – and without providing her an opportunity to respond – Judge Warfield Moore Jr. dismissed Ms. Al-Maliki’s auto-tort lawsuit for a reason that he alone chose to focus on.

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.”

15 Months Off Work and Unable to Walk From Personal Injuries Is Not “Serious Enough”

If there’s one truth to emerge from the horrifically flawed Michigan Supreme Court ruling in Kreiner v. Fischer, a case that has doomed thousands of auto accident victims in Michigan, it is this:

The word “normal” doesn’t mean what you think it does.

At least not for innocent Michigan residents who have suffered serious personal injury from car accidents and must now follow Alice into Wonderland.  Linda Berishaj has had to learn that lesson the hard way.