The Michigan Court of Appeals has thrown out yet another serious impairment of body function threshold case under the no-fault act, creating more confusion for Michigan car accident lawyers and more bad news for innocent victims of serious automobile accidents.

The case, Jeanene Adams and Beverly Adams v. Willie Hodge, is a striking reminder that cases that used to be worth big money — in the days before the Michigan Supreme Court passed Kreiner v. Fischer — may not be worth anything today.

Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms that lawyers hear from clients who have suffered traumatic brain injury after an accident. In fact, 50-75 percent of people with traumatic brain injury report fatigue, and more than half of these people report fatigue as their worst symptom, according to the Journal of Head Trauma and Rehabilitation (Vol. 23, No. 1, 2008).

Still, many personal injury attorneys fail to adequately convey fatigue to insurance companies, defense attorneys and juries. That’s because fatigue can be so difficult for lawyers to prove. In this respect, fatigue is very similar to traumatic headaches, which are also quite common, and yet often completely ignored.

On Sunday, the Macomb Daily newspaper published a front-page story about Steven Gursten’s recent jury trial in Macomb County, Michigan; which resulted in a $5.65 million verdict for his clients, Tony and Lisa Broeren of Bruce Township. Tony was seriously injured in a truck accident after a friend accidentally ran him over and propelled him head-first into a log cabin.

The seven-day trial in Macomb County Circuit Court had more than 20 witnesses. The verdict is one of the largest Macomb County has ever seen for an auto accident. Doctors say Tony — who suffered crushing injuries to his leg that have required many surgeries and a traumatic brain injury for starters — will never be able to return to competitive employment. Prior to the November 2006 accident, he was an electro-mechanical engineer.

Last Wednesday, a Macomb County jury returned a verdict of $5.65 million for my client, Tony Broeren. Tony was seriously injured when he was literally run-over by a pick-up truck. For starters, he suffered crush injuries to his leg that have required many surgeries and a traumatic brain injury.

The person responsible for the accident, Roy Bates, was a Chrysler engineer who was driving a Chrysler test vehicle at the time. Under Michigan law, Chrysler was financially responsible for the jury verdict. But due to a quirk in Michigan law, Chrysler was not allowed to be named a defendant in the case.

The Michigan Court of Appeals has clarified the test for medical causation under the no fault act in a recent published opinion, Scott v. State Farm. Our team of Michigan personal injury attorneys believes the test might make Michigan insurance companies think twice before denying payment to victims of serious auto accidents.

Most people don’t think about insuring and registering their automobiles immediately after moving to a new state. But thanks to another unfair Michigan insurance law, that’s what has to be done to be protected in case of an auto accident. In Jones v. SBC Teleholdings Inc., the Michigan Court of Appeals recently ruled that Michigan residents are not entitled to a 30-day grace period before insuring or registering their vehicles in this state. The holding creates one more avenue insurance companies can use to void coverage to unassuming victims who have been injured or killed in car and truck accidents in Michigan.

Automobile insurance companies recently won yet another victory in Michigan courts. In Ruzak v. USAA Insurance, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that insurance companies can reduce liability coverage of $300,000 per person and $500,000 per auto accident to the statutory minimum of $20,000 per person and $40,000 per auto accident, when that coverage applies to an insured’s resident relative. This means that if the injured person is a member of the at-fault driver’s family and resides in the same household, the insurance company may not have to pay the full amount of liability coverage.

Nick Bollea, the teenage son of wrestling idol Hulk Hogan and star of VH1 reality show “Hogan Knows Best,” is serving eight months in jail on charges of causing a car accident that critically injured his best friend.

Given the tremendous amount of publicity the case has received and my firm’s expertise in helping people who have suffered serious personal injury and wrongful death in car accidents and truck accidents throughout Michigan, I’m compelled to inform the public of what results a lawsuit with similar facts would garner accident victims if it happened to occur in Michigan. And it’s not a pretty picture.

Off road vehicle (ORV) drivers or passengers who suffer personal injury in Michigan highway accidents will now have little legal recourse for their pain and suffering.

On July 17, 2008, Michigan House Bill 5559 was signed into law, Public Act 241 of 2008. It amended section 3101 of the Michigan no fault act to exclude unregistered and uninsured ORVs from the definition of motor vehicle. The definition of motorcycle has also been amended to exclude ORVs.

The vast majority of ORVs in Michigan are unregistered and uninsured.

Our accident lawyers often write and speak about the unreasonably difficult threshold law that exists in Michigan, which bars many residents who are seriously injured in car accidents from recovering money for their pain and suffering. But lawyers rarely discuss the role that automobile safety standards play in injury cases, or the misleading safety standards that apply for people who suffer life-changing injuries in simple frontal impact collisions.

Debilitating leg injuries from frontal impact automobile accidents

Many people suffer debilitating leg injuries from automobile accidents, most involving frontal impact collisions with cars and trucks. These leg injuries range from cases involving total knee replacement surgery to quadriceps tendon repair and even leg amputations, where an accident victim may never walk again.