- GuardianshipIf there is a substantial benefit in dispute, it is important for a lawsuit to be filed within one year of the disputed items. If suit is filed more than a year after the disputed item, that claim is barred. There are certain statutory exceptions that allow a claim from longer than one year back to be files if, for example, it is brought on behalf of a minor, a person under a guardianship, or a mentally incapacitated person. The one-year-back rule may be extended in certain circumstances. In most cases some interest will be awarded on benefits recovered. In some cases the court may award an attorney fee.
- DUI/DWIIf you were hit by a drunk driver or lost a loved one in a fatal accident caused by drunk driving, there is no question that the responsible driver was negligent. However, it may be difficult, in a DUI accident case to recover all compensation you need and deserve. You may be eligible for benefits from several insurance policies, including your own auto and health insurance policies, the responsible driver’s policy, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, and liability insurance covering the person or business who served alcohol.
- Wrongful DeathIf you or a member of your family has been injured in a trucking accident, you need to focus on healing. Yet you need to take measures to protect your right to recover adequate compensation to provide for medical care and lost wages. You may be entitled to a number of claims, including those for pain, suffering, and, in a wrongful death case, loss of companionship.
- Traffic Violations$1,350,000.00 – 18 year old student suffered a T8 through T11 spinal fracture resulting in partial paralysis from the waist down after being thrown from a Jeep that was speeding, left the roadway and rolled several times.
- Hit and RunMost uninsured motorist coverage provides that if an unidentified motorist, such as a hit-and-run driver, injures an insured, the insured may seek uninsured motorist benefits by showing proof of the unidentified motorist’s involvement. The insurance contract usually provides that the plaintiff must have physical contact with the unidentified motorist’s vehicle to recover uninsured motorist benefits. The physical contact requirement was meant to ensure that phantom vehicles are not invented and claims made for uninsured motorist benefits without some evidence that an unidentified motorist’s vehicle was involved. Some policies also require that the involvement of a hit and run vehicle be reported to a police department within 24-hours of the accident.
- Employment LitigationBefore Hannay, plaintiff’s counsel could cite caselaw in both no-fault and other contexts that provided examples of circumstantial proofs in employment situations where damages would be recoverable. Covell v Colburn, 308 Mich 240, 13 NW2d 275 (1944) (proofs of plaintiff’s intentions to become a nurse and testimony of two nurses regarding nurse’s earnings were sufficient to create question of fact for jury to decide), overruled on other grounds in Thompson v Ogemaw Cty Bd of Rd Comm’rs,, 357 Mich 482, 98 NW2d 620 (1959). The language in Hannay is fairly broad, but most future employment claims are not too different from Gobler and Swartout. The multiple requirements in Hannay that had to be satisfied within the three-year no-fault wage loss period (readmission to school, completion of the program, successfully passing the admission requirements for a hygienist, and finding employment) make it easily distinguishable from Gobler and Swartout.
- Premises LiabilityOur personal injury law practice is prepared to handle claims involving car, truck, bus, bicycle, and pedestrian accidents; slip and falls and other premises liability claims; product liability claims; claims for compensation for brain and spinal cord injury; and claims and lawsuits for wrongful death. We help clients in Ann Arbor, Detroit, and throughout Michigan recover the benefits they need and deserve. Our commitment to service is absolute. Please feel free to contact the firm at any time for advice or for help with your personal injury claim.
- Property DamageThe defendant in a no-fault lawsuit is immune from suit for any property damage to the Plaintiff’s vehicle unless the vehicle was parked. The defendant is responsible for the plaintiff’s noneconomic losses – – such as pain and suffering, embarrassment, and disfigurement – – and for economic losses in accordance with MCL 500.3135(3). To recover noneconomic losses from the defendant in a negligence suit, the plaintiff must prove that a threshold-level injury has been sustained and that the Plaintiff is not more than 50 percent at fault. MCL 500.3135(2).
- Personal InjuryPersonal Injury Claims Involving Lyft and Uber Drivers in Michigan - Personal Injury Attorneys in Ann Arbor MI | Logeman, Iafrate, & Logeman, P.C.
- Medical MalpracticeThis qualification rule is almost identical to the requirements of the expert witness eligibility rules in medical malpractice cases. See MCL 600.2169(1). There has not yet been any case law interpreting what the requirements of ‘3151(2)(b). Courts have interpreted the statutory language, Aa majority,@ as meaning more than 50%. See Cox v Hartman, 322 Mich App 292, 301 (2017). Accordingly, in order to qualify as a medical malpractice expert witness, the physician must have spent more than 50% of their professional time in the active clinical practice of medicine and/or the instruction of students. Furthermore, case law involving medical malpractice expert witness qualifications has broadly defined the phrases, Aactive clinical practice@ and Ainstruction of students.@ In Gay v Select Specialty Hosp, 295 Mich App 284 (2012), the Court of Appeals stated that, Aactive clinical practice,@ must be given its ordinary meaning and includes any activity that is, Adirectly or indirectly,@ related to the care of patients in a clinical setting. In regard to, Ainstruction of students,@ the Court of Appeals in Gay recognized that the time devoted to the instruction of students includes not only the time actually instructing in a classroom but also in connection with the instruction. Id. at 299-300. See also Wolfe-Haddad Estate v Oakland County, 272 Mich App 323, 325 (2006), where clinical practice was defined as the practice of one=s profession in a clinical setting.
- Auto Accidents
- Social Security DisabilityThe no-fault wage loss and survivor’s loss benefits are reduced by Social Security disability or survivor’s benefits or worker’s compensation benefits. If the no-fault policy that applies was a coordinated policy, the no-fault insurer is entitled to a credit for any private disability payments or insured medical payments made. The no-fault insurer does not get a credit or reduction from the wage loss or survivor’s loss benefits for sick pay, vacation pay, or similar employment-provided (not insurance-provided) wage continuation.
- Tax Law