Michigan no fault insurance lawyers should now be insisting on 58.5 cents per mile, which is the new IRS business mileage rate that began on July 1, 2008, for all medical mileage claims in litigation with auto insurance companies.   The new mileage rate has been raised significantly from the 50.5 cents per mile that was the old IRS mileage rate before July 1st, reflecting the higher price of gas.
 
Gas Costs Add Up for Medical Appointments
Due to the high cost of gas today, for someone who has suffered a serious injury from a car accident, they can be incurring hundreds or even thousands of dollars in mileage costs going to and from doctor, hospital and physical therapy visits.  For many of my clients who live outside of Metro Detroit, such as in Northern Michigan or the west side of Michigan, it is common for them to have to drive 30-45 minutes or more for doctor visits and physical therapy.  At 3 to 5 medical and therapy appointments per week, the gas costs add up very fast.
 
However, under Michigan’s no fault law, people are able to seek reimbursement from their own no fault auto insurance company.  You do not need an attorney for this.  Mileage reimbursement is a mandatory no fault benefit that anyone who has purchased automobile insurance in this state is entitled to. 

Most of us don’t like to think that we may be involved in a car accident, and no one wants to believe that they might end up in an emergency room. Unfortunately, automobile accidents can occur at any time.  While emergency situations are unpredictable, that doesn’t mean you can’t be better prepared when an accident occurs.

A recent article on CNN.com, “If You Get Hit by a Bus Tomorrow,” gives readers 5 helpful steps to be better prepared for an automobile accident.  The article includes potential life-saving suggestions, such as keeping medical information in your wallet and glove box and storing emergency numbers in your cell phone where paramedics can easily find them.

Today Michigan has the worst automobile accident law in the country.  But last week, Republican Senator Bruce Patterson, with the help of Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, took an important step to change that by moving a bill to the Michigan Senate floor to finally fix the terrible Kreiner v. Fisher case.   For the past 4years, thousands of Michigan citizens who have been injured in car accidents have been denied the right to a jury trial and fair treatment in the courts.   For example, as of June 16, 2008, 189 out of 208 Michigan citizens injured in automobile accidents have lost their case in the Michigan Court of Appeals, according to the Michigan Lawyers Weekly. 

An important theme from the No-Fault Law Institute Seminar this past week was to encourage Michigan trial lawyers to take on smaller cases against auto insurance companies when they deliberately refuse to pay out on small first-party auto claims that they are clearly obligated to pay.    If there are enough Michigan lawyers willing to take on these bad faith insurance companies over smaller cases, perhaps as a profession lawyers can start to make these insurance companies behave better and honor claims that should be paid.  And if you heed the following lesson from a fellow Michigan trial lawyer, you can make a decent living while protecting the public. 

On Friday, June 6, 2008, Michigan Auto Law lawyers Steven Gursten and David Christensen will be speaking at the Michigan No-Fault Institute Seminar in Southfield, Michigan.   This seminar is presented through the Michigan Association for Justice, for lawyers who handle car accident injury cases, truck accident cases, and attendant care and other no fault first party cases stemming from motor vehicle accidents.
 
Steve will be performing a live closing argument demonstration in a sample motor vehicle accident case where the plaintiff has suffered a traumatic brain injury.   The defense will claim the car accident did not cause a brain injury and that the plaintiff is malingering. 
 
David will be lecturing and performing a live jury selection demonstration in a “PIP case” involving a claim for Michigan attendant care benefits.  Attendant care no-fault benefits are available under Michigan’s No-Fault laws for people who suffer severe or catastrophic injury from automobile accidents.
 
Finally, Steve will also be presenting this week at the Association of Interstate Truck Lawyers of America on May 30, 31 and June 1st in St. Louis, Missouri.  Steve and Larry Gursten are both on the Board of Governors, representing the State of Michigan, in the AITLA.  Steve is also the chair of the American Association for Justice Interstate Truck Litigation Group.  The seminar will cover important topics for lawyers throughout the United States who handle serious truck accident injury cases, including “expanding theories of liability” and “damages” in truck accident litigation. 
 

Helping people who have been injured in car accidents throughout Michigan, our lawyers have found that some hospitals, for example Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, and Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, do not always aggressively follow-up with auto insurance companies for payment of medical bills for people who have suffered personal injury from automobile accidents. Now, after a recent order by the Michigan Supreme Court, these hospitals may be putting these people at personal risk for their own medical bills.

This change, based upon an order from the Court dated March 7, 2008, will dramatically impact hospitals and doctor billing practices in automobile accident cases throughout Michigan.

We have frequently discussed many of the simply outrageous legal decisions that have been issued in recent years by four justices of the Michigan Supreme Court.  Decisions such as Kreiner, Cameron, and Devillers have essentially destroyed the fundamental principles underlying Michigan’s no fault auto insurance system over the past decade.

Earlier this month, we posted “Do I Have a Good Case?”, illustrating 8 inconsistent examples of how Michigan’s car accident injury laws unfairly impact real people, with identical injuries from car accidents.   All examples were based on actual cases, although one example (Gagne v. Schulte) stands out as so extreme, it has been questioned by our readers as “unrealistic”.

Sadly, that case was all too real.  Krista Gagne was 21 years old when her car was hit by a drunk driver.   Krista suffered very serious injuries, including a torn anterior cruciate ligament and medial meniscus that ultimately required reconstructive knee replacement surgery.  She lost over a year from work, had extensive physical therapy, and ultimately lost her job. 

On April 3rd, 2008, the conservative, 4-justice majority of the Michigan Supreme Court, referred to as the “Gang of Four” by many Michigan personal injury lawyers, wiped out all lawsuits and legal claims based on consortium in any car accident caused by government employees.  Parents, children and spouses are now barred from making any claim for loss of society, companionship, or consortium for the injury or death to a loved one if the car accident has been caused by a governmental employee.   This terrible decision is still limited to lawsuits against a governmental entity based upon the negligence of a governmental employee in causing a motor vehicle accident.  Michigan lawyers can still bring a loss of consortium claim for personal injury or death to a parent, spouse or child after car accidents not been caused by a governmental employee.
 
Wesche v. Mecosta County Road Commission:
The decision, Wesche v. Mecosta County Road Commission was authored by Justice Corrigan, the same justice who has ironically called herself a “champion of children,” despite authoring such previous travesties as Cameron v. ACIA.  Justice Corrigan ruled in Wesche that the parents of an unborn child killed in a car accident caused by a negligent driver employed by the government, cannot recover anything for the loss of society and companionship of their child. 

Last week, I was asked to teach a class at Cooley Law School on Michigan’s automobile accident law.   The class normally covers Michigan No Fault Law, but this class was on third-party claims – suing the insurance company of the person who causes an accident.

Below are some examples I used during the class to show law students how Michigan’s car accident threshold law of “serious impairment of body function” discriminates against different types of people, even when they have suffered identical personal injury from motor vehicle accidents.  The elderly, young children, those already disabled, and those who choose to stay at work in the home have a far more difficult time under our current automobile accident threshold law.