On May 12, 2009, Plaggemeyer v. Lee was issued by the Michigan Court of Appeals. Plaggemeyer is the latest injustice in a long line of cases since Kreiner v. Fischer. It too harms Michigan personal injury lawyers and accident victims alike.

Mr. James Plaggemeyer was injured in a serious car accident. He suffered a broken left femur and required surgery. He spent several days in the hospital recovering from leg surgery and needed the use of a walker for an additional four weeks, crutches for the next eight weeks, and a cane for another four to six weeks. Mr. Plaggemeyer testified he had difficulty walking for about a year after the accident, and he sometimes called for his wife Ruth’s support when walking. Nevertheless, the Michigan Court of Appeals, in a panel with Sawyer, Murray, and Stephens, threw his case out of Court.

The state of personal injury law in Michigan is bleak following years of intentional dismantling by the Engler-appointed “Majority of Four” Michigan Supreme Court justices who wreaked havoc on victims of automobile accidents, slip and falls, inadequate security, product liability and medical malpractice laws. In fact, Michigan has the most draconian personal injury laws in the entire country, yet promised drops in insurance rates have never arrived. Meanwhile, Michigan’s auto insurance companies lead the nation in profitability, reaping the rewards of fewer payouts and very little regulation and oversight by the state. Our current laws read like a bizarre work of fiction by Kafka or Orwell, but Michigan residents who are blind (Sidorowicz v. Chicken Shack), disabled (Griffith v. State Farm Insurance), severely injured (Roberts v. Mecosta General Hospital) and raped (Zsigo v. Hurley Medical Center) have had cases thrown out of the courts; as the old extreme four-justice majority has changed long-standing precedent and stare decisis in case after case (Read my previous blog for about more unbelievable Supreme Court judicial travesties).

The worst Michigan no-fault insurance case of 2008 snuck in with only two days of the year remaining. In Moore v. Secura, the Michigan Supreme Court issued an opinion that will destroy the rights of thousands of people injured in motor vehicle accidents.

The two worst parts of the decision are as follows:

Michigan auto insurance companies will use notorious “cut-off” doctors now more than ever to suspend and terminate people’s no-fault insurance benefits.

Why? Because Michigan insurance companies are no longer required to resolve conflicting medical opinions before suspending or terminating no-fault insurance benefits.

In yesterday’s blog, I warned Michigan traumatic brain injury lawyers of a Dec. 18, 2008 case that’s devastating for Michigan auto accident victims with TBI in federal courts. In Shropshire v. Laidlaw Transit, a young girl who suffered a traumatic brain injury from a car accident had her personal injury case dismissed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit wrote that the “automatic” route to a jury trial for victims of traumatic brain injury found in MCL 500.3135(2)(a)(ii) does not apply in federal court.

Michigan traumatic brain injury lawyers must be on high alert after a Dec. 18, 2008 U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit case that dismissed the brain injury claim of an injured child. The Court declared that the “automatic” route to a jury, created to protect victims of traumatic brain injury under Michigan’s car accident law, is procedural, not substantive, and does not apply in federal court. This case will effectively wipe out most brain injury cases from car accidents in the federal courts.