Michigan Car Accident Laws: What You Need To Know

Michigan car accident laws are governed by the state’s No-Fault insurance system, which requires your own insurance to pay medical bills and lost wages after a crash regardless of fault. To sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering compensation, your injuries must meet our state’s “serious impairment of body function” threshold under MCL 500.3135, as defined by the State Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 ruling in McCormick v. Carrier.

If you’ve been injured in a Michigan car accident, the law allows you to sue the at-fault driver if you can prove that: (1) the at-fault driver was negligent; (2) the negligence caused your injuries; and (3) your injuries meet our state’s serious impairment of body function threshold. In addition, you may pursue a No-Fault PIP claim with your own insurance company and a mini-tort claim to recover vehicle damage caused by the negligent driver.

The Michigan car accident laws explain that a “serious impairment of body function” has occurred when a victim’s injuries result in an impairment that is: (1) objectively manifested; (2) involves an important body function; and (3) affects the victim’s “general ability to lead his or her normal life.”

This is known as Michigan’s car accident threshold law. It is the legal requirement that all crash victims must satisfy in order to sue an at-fault (negligent) driver who injured them for pain and suffering compensation, which is also known as “noneconomic loss” damages.

An auto crash victim’s injury-related impairments qualify as a “serious impairment of body function”  if they meet these three requirements:

1. “It is objectively manifested, meaning it is observable or perceivable from actual symptoms or conditions by someone other than the injured person.” (MCL 500.3135(5)(a))
2. “It is an impairment of an important body function, which is a body function of great value, significance, or consequence to the injured person.” (MCL 500.3135(5)(b))
3. “It affects the injured person’s general ability to lead his or her normal life, meaning it has had an influence on some of the person’s capacity to live in his or her normal manner of living.” (MCL 500.3135(5)(c))

The Michigan car accident laws clarify that there is “no temporal requirement for how long an impairment must last” for it to qualify as a “serious impairment of body function.” (MCL 500.3135(5)(c))

Additionally, the laws state that a “serious impairment of body function” determination must:

• “[B]e conducted on a case-by-case basis”;
• Consider the facts and circumstances that are specific “to each injured person”; and
• Involve a “comparison of the injured person’s life before and after the incident.” (MCL 500.3135(5)(c))

The Michigan car accident laws are clear that you do not need to suffer a permanent injury or a permanent impairment to qualify as a “serious impairment of body function.” The laws state: “[T]here is no temporal requirement for how long an impairment must last.” (MCL 500.3135(5)(c))

Our state’s jury instruction in third-party auto negligence cases (i.e., when you sue the person responsible for causing the crash and your injuries and impairments) reads as follows: 

• “An impairment does not have to be permanent in order to be a serious impairment of body function.” (M Civ JI 36.01A)
• If the jury finds that an auto crash victim has suffered a serious impairment of body function, but his or her “injury has ceased, or may in the future cease to be a serious impairment of body function, that fact will not relieve [the at-fault driver] from liability for any of the noneconomic loss damages suffered by plaintiff as a proximate result of defendant’s negligence.” (M Civ JI 36.01B)

Michigan’s No-Fault law requires your own PIP insurance to pay your medical bills and lost wages after a car accident regardless of who caused the crash. However, fault still matters significantly in auto crash cases for two reasons:

• Pain and suffering compensation: You can only recover pain and suffering damages (noneconomic losses) by suing the at-fault driver and proving they were negligent. Your own No-Fault PIP benefits do not cover pain and suffering.
• The 50% fault bar: Under MCL 500.3135(2)(b), you cannot sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering if you were more than 50% responsible for causing the crash.

Our state follows a modified comparative fault rule, meaning your pain and suffering damages can be reduced in proportion to your share of fault — but only up to the 50% threshold. At 51% or more fault, you are barred from recovery entirely.

Is Michigan Still A No-Fault State For Auto Insurance?

Yes. Michigan is still a No-Fault state for auto insurance. Under the Michigan No-Fault law, every driver is required to carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance, which pays for medical expenses, lost wages, and household replacement services after a car accident — regardless of who caused the crash.

However, the 2019 No-Fault reform (Public Acts 21 and 22) gave drivers the option to choose different levels of PIP medical coverage, including an unlimited option, a $500,000 cap, a $250,000 cap, or — for drivers covered by qualified health insurance — a $50,000 cap or PIP medical opt-out. Choosing a lower PIP level can reduce your premium but may leave you with significant out-of-pocket exposure after a serious crash.

Our state’s No-Fault system still requires drivers to carry residual liability coverage and property protection insurance (PPI) in addition to PIP.

Who Pays For Car Damage In An Accident Under Michigan law?

In Michigan, car damage after an accident is handled differently than medical bills and lost wages under the state’s No-Fault law — vehicle damage is not covered through PIP and is instead addressed through two separate mechanisms:

Collision coverage: If you have collision coverage on your own auto insurance policy, your insurer will pay to repair or replace your vehicle regardless of fault.

Mini-tort claim: Michigan law allows you to file a mini-tort claim against the at-fault driver to recover up to $3,000 in vehicle damage that is not covered by your own insurance. To recover mini-tort damages, the other driver must have been at fault and you must have been properly insured at the time of the crash. (MCL 500.3135(3))

If the at-fault driver was uninsured or underinsured, your own uninsured motorist coverage (if you purchased it) may provide additional protection.

What Is The 120 Hour Rule In Michigan?

Michigan’s 120 hour rule is a car accident-relevant provision under the state’s Estates and Protected Individuals Code (EPIC), requiring a beneficiary to survive the decedent by at least 120 hours (five days) to inherit — and under MCL 700.2104, this law directly impacts how wrongful death settlements are distributed when multiple family members are killed in the same crash.

In the context of an auto crash wrongful death case, the 120 hour rule can become relevant when multiple family members are killed in the same crash. If a beneficiary does not survive the decedent by 120 hours, they are treated as having predeceased the decedent for purposes of inheritance — which can affect how a wrongful death settlement or verdict is distributed among surviving family members.

The Michigan car accident laws bar a crash victim from suing the at-fault driver for pain and suffering compensation if: (1) the victim was “more than 50% at fault” for causing the crash; or (2) the victim was driving his or her own “uninsured” vehicle at the time of the crash. (MCL 500.3135(2)(b) and (c))

The Michigan car accident laws have gone from only imposing the general “serious impairment of body function” requirement to passing legislation explaining that a “serious impairment” “affects the injured person’s general ability . . . to live in his or her normal manner of living” and has “no temporal requirement.”

In 1973, the Michigan Legislature passed the No-Fault auto insurance law which required only that a crash victim suffer “serious impairment of body function” to be able to sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering compensation.

After two contentious rulings by the Michigan Supreme Court in 1982 and 1986, the Michigan Legislature amended the law in 1995 so that a “serious impairment of body function” was defined as “an objectively manifested impairment of an important body function that affects the person’s general ability to lead his or her normal life.”

Again, the Michigan Supreme Court had trouble interpreting the statutory language in the car accident laws and in 2004 the justices issued the infamous Kreiner v. Fischer opinion, wherein a partisan majority created its own legal requirements that crash victims had to meet. The result was that thousands of innocent and seriously injured automobile crash injury victims were ultimately wrongfully denied access to justice when their cases were thrown out of court.

In 2010, the Michigan Supreme Court decided its landmark ruling in McCormick v. Carrier, where the justices overruled Kreiner’s interpretation of the “serious impairment of body function” statute, holding that “Kreiner v. Fischer . . . was wrongly decided because it departed from the plain language of MCL 500.3135, and is therefore overruled . . . Because the Kreiner majority created ambiguity where there was none, and crafted a statutory interpretation that is, in effect, a judicially constructed house of cards, we hold that it incorrectly interpreted [the law].”

In 2019, in Public Acts 21 and 22, the Michigan Legislature amended the tort threshold law in MCL 500.3135(1) and (5) “to codify and give full effect to the opinion of the Michigan supreme court in McCormick v Carrier, 487 Mich 180 (2010).”

Even though our current Michigan car accident laws, which codify the Michigan Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in McCormick v. Carrier, are more fair than the law was under Kreiner v. Fischer, our states’s serious impairment tort threshold is still much stricter than most other states.  

This should not stop you from seeking compensation for harms and losses caused by a negligent driver. That said, it should reinforce why it is so important to hire an experienced Michigan car accident lawyer who specializes in handling auto crash and truck crash cases and knows the No-Fault law.  You will have a much better chance at meeting the serious impairment of body function threshold test and recovering for your personal injuries with a lawyer who can help to document and demonstrate how your impairments meet the legal threshold required under the law. An experienced lawyer can also keep you from making innocent mistakes that can sometimes ruin an otherwise meritorious lawsuit.

If you were injured in a crash, call now (800) 968-1001 for a free consultation with one an experienced auto crash injury lawyer. There is no cost or obligation. You can also visit our contact page or use the chat feature on our website.

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(Sources: M Civ JI 36.01A; 36.01B; 36.06)