Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan testified Tuesday on ‘D-Insurance’ and the problem of lawyer billboards in Detroit raising costs
Everyone agrees we have to do something to lower the cost of auto insurance for Detroiters. I just don’t believe Duggan’s “D-Insurance” plan is the answer. You can read why I think Duggan’s D-Insurance plan is a bad deal for Detroit here.
But there is one thing Mayor Duggan and I agree on: Detroit has a big problem with personal injury lawyers on billboards. It’s something I’ve been saying on this legal blog for a long time.
Mayor Duggan testified before the Senate Insurance Committee on Tuesday. This is what he said, according to a recent story in the Detroit Free Press:
… There are large numbers of Detroit-area billboards placed by lawyers seeking to be retained by accident victims and the legal industry has figured out how to get Detroit accident victims “into the maximum number of treatments they can get.”
The medical provider/injury lawyer connection that needs to be fixed
In my blog post last week, I discussed the need for fair medical provider fee schedules as a possible way to keep our Michigan No Fault system intact for auto accident victims who rely on the life-saving, unlimited medical benefits, while also saving drivers money on their premiums.
A fair rate for medical services reimbursements under No Fault would remove a lot of the ugliness, fraud and lawyer billboards in cities like Detroit, drumming up every auto accident case they can so they can get unknowing victims to certain medical providers and rack up big bills (that the lawyer can then take a third to 50% attorney fee on).
These are the same legal shenanigans that the insurance companies and Michigan attorneys are seeing out there, which Duggan referenced in his comments before the Senate Insurance Committee this past Tuesday.
This is a huge problem. On Monday, I’ll discuss the “411 Pain”/”Motor City Accident Attorneys” billboards we’re seeing.
