HB 4936: Why I predict taking away No-Fault protections will fail to lower the price of auto insurance (again)

Yesterday, I discussed how HB 4936, recently proposed by Republican state Rep. Pete Lund, would likely serve as the framework for any future No-Fault “reform” legislation.

This proposed legislation has no safeguards to lower auto insurance premiums, even though it takes away valuable No-Fault PIP protections from Michigan citizens.

Comment: How many times have we been lied to in this state by auto insurance companies who have promised vast savings in return for savaging our No-Fault protections and benefits?

As an auto insurance lawyer, I saw the insurance industry make these promises in 1995, when then Governor Engler passed radical tort “reform,” and again in 2004 with Kreiner v. Fischer. Although third-party auto accident (pain and suffering lawsuits) dropped by half, and thousands of innocent and injured Michigan citizens had their claims literally thrown out of court under this new law (the nation’s harshest auto injury threshold law) — auto insurance premiums only went up.

Costs went down, accident claims went down, pay-outs went down, but insurance premiums continued to rise.

In 2005 and again in 2006, independent studies of Michigan’s insurance companies found that the rates Michigan insurance companies were charging were “excessive.”

The Anderson study: Impact of proposed PIP Choice Law in Michigan estimates that reducing PIP will cause insurance companies profits to increase by over $100 million a year.

Here’s my big problem with all of these bills: people are giving up incredibly valuable No-Fault protections (even if most aren’t even aware how important these are until it will be too late); but these sacrifices are being made without any built-in safeguards, protections, or guarantees to prevent insurance companies from continuing to charge excessive auto insurance premiums to Michigan consumers.

How many times are we going to be lied to before we realize that without any type of safeguards, there will be no incentive for the auto insurance companies to use these new higher profits to lower the price of auto insurance for us?

If auto premiums are not reduced, this will reinforce the downward cycle of forcing Michigan residents to choose the cheapest insurance coverage because of the high prices.  Those who need it most get hurt the most because of the high prices.

As I’ve written before, and as an insurance lawyer for nearly 20 years focusing on No-Fault insurance claims, the obvious answer - and protection for Michigan consumers - is to allow the Michigan insurance commissioner to regulate the amount of profits that insurance companies are allowed to reap for a product (No-Fault insurance) that we are forced to buy.

Insurance commissioners have this power in almost every state - except Michigan.

Incredibly, this one modification - which would drastically lower auto insurance premiums overnight while keeping the insurance benefits and protections of our auto insurance law intact - has been absent from any of the Republican sponsored legislative bills, including HB 4936, and SB 293 and SB294.

- Steven Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s top auto insurance lawyers handling serious car accident and truck accident lawsuits. He frequently writes and lectures about Michigan No-Fault, and is available for comment.

Related information to protect yourself:

Show us the money from proposed changes to our No-Fault law

3 potential cases for Michigan auto accidents

Michigan’s current No-Fault Act and statues

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our insurance lawyers.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

The insurance coverage that an insurance lawyer recommends

This week, we began a three-week-long giveaway sweepstakes to bring awareness to the dangers of texting while driving in Michigan – as well as the importance of buying the right auto insurance. If you visit our Facebook page, you can enter to win  $1,032.  The only requirement is to watch a 30 second  video on distracted driving and filling out the entry form.

Why a $1,032 check? The Insurance Institute of Michigan’s December 2010 data states that the average auto insurance premium in Michigan is $1,032.02.

The winner can use the money however he or she wants. But as an insurance laywer, I hope the winner will use it to buy the right kind of auto insurance this  year.  Our  campaign isn’t just about distracted driving. It’s also to get the word out on just how many people are uninsured on our roads today and how critical auto insurance with Uninsured motorist coverage (UM) is to properly protect yourself.

As I blogged about before, about 50 percent of Detroit drivers are driving without any auto insurance, as reported in the Detroit Legal News. And in Michigan, about 19 percent of drivers have no auto insurance, according to a news release by the Insurance Research Council.

With that, I’d like to summarize additional coverages you can buy along with your mandatory Michigan No-Fault insurance. These insurance coverages provide more protection in case of a serious car accident – especially if that accident is with someone who doesn’t have No-Fault insurance.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) provides a valuable source of legal recovery after a car accident, when someone is injured by another driver who is uninsured or does not have adequate insurance.

Many auto insurance companies don’t inform their policy holders of these important options.

With UM and UIM, an injured person turns to his or her own auto insurance company to pay what would have been recovered from the at-fault driver, had that person been properly covered.

This coverage is very inexpensive. As I always say, for the price of a movie and popcorn, you can make sure your family is covered in case of a crash with an uninsured driver.

Remember, in most cases, your No-Fault insurance does not pay for repairs to your car if it is damaged in an accident. But collision coverage pays for repairs to your car when it is damaged in a crash.

There are three basic kinds of collision to choose from – limited, standard and broad form. These have varying deductibles (A deductible is the amount of money you agree to pay toward the cost of repairs before the insurance company steps in and pays the remainder).

Comprehensive insurance pays for your car if it is stolen or for repairs if your car is hit by a falling object, collides with an animal or is damaged in a fire, flood or by vandals’. Think of the insurance commercials that show objects falling onto cars with a comedic spin.

You  may be sued because of an accident. If this happens, your No-fault policy will pay up to the amounts shown in the residual liability section.

But courts sometimes award more than these amounts. If this happens, you would be responsible for paying the amount not covered by your insurance policy. Many people buy higher limits if liability insurance to protect themselves.

The No-Fault law protects insured people from being sued as a result of an auto accident, except for special circumstances. For car damage, a person can only be sued for up to $500 – if you are 50 percent or more at fault in an accident which causes damage to another person’s car. This is called the Michigan mini tort law.

But most companies offer limited property damage liability insurance to cover this $500 liability.

If you’re looking to buy insurance, take a look at our list of the top 4 Michigan auto insurance companies and tips for buying the right auto insurance.

We also have a book called What Auto Insurance Is Right For Me? It has the 8 essential questions you must ask your insurance agent before buying No-Fault insurance.

We hope all of these insurance tips help. Again, sign up for our distracted driving sweepstakes on Facebook! You could win a $1,032 check, and we really hope the winner will use the money for a year’s worth of auto insurance.

- Steven Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s top insurance lawyers handling serious auto accident cases and No-Fault insurance litigation. He writes about the importance of Michigan’s No-Fault law, and is available for comment.

Related information:

3 potential cases after an auto accident

Guide to Michigan No-Fault law

Michigan’s 6 worst auto insurance companies

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our No-Fault insurance lawyers.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

Illinois personal injury lawyer settles auto accident case for insurance policy limits

Chicago car crash attorneys have reached a settlement on behalf of a Cook County resident that was injured by an inattentive driver who rear-ended him as he was preparing to turn into a shopping mall parking lot. The victim suffered injuries to his neck and back.

On September 24, 2009, our client was traveling southbound on 25th Avenue in Bellwood, Illinois when he turned his right turn signal on and began to slow down to an appropriate turning speed. Before he could attempt the turn, a 1994 Chevy Lumina failed to yield to the victim and rear-ended his 2006 Honda Ridgeline. The Bellwood Police Department responded to the scene and after a brief investigation, they placed the driver of the Honda at fault.

Immediately following the collision, the victim had an onset of back and neck pain that required him to be taken to Loyola University Medical Center by ambulance. The hospital performed a series of diagnostic tests and initially diagnosed him with a cervical strain and thoracic spine pain. He was placed in an aspen collar, prescribed pain medication, and instructed to seek follow up treatment with an orthopaedic doctor.

Six days after the accident occurred, ongoing and worsening pain in the victim’s neck, right arm, and left arm necessitated a trip back to the hospital emergency room. After more tests, doctors found that he had tenderness in the paraspinal musculature and instructed him to begin physical therapy and seek further treatment if necessary.

After an examination by an orthopedic physician in October, the doctor ordered an MRI as he believed the plaintiff may have sustained a herniated disc in the accident. The MRI results showed plaintiff sustained a disc bulge with at C3-4 level, peripheral right sided neural foraminal encroachment and impression upon the thecal sac, a right sided posterolateral disc herniation at the C4-5 level, encroachment of the exiting nerve root zone, and proximal right neural foramen, and a disc bulge at the C7-T1 level and peripheral neural foraminal encroachment bilaterally.

The doctor recommended that he receive a cervical spine epidural injection if his radicular symptoms continued. Our client completed fifteen sessions of physical therapy, but the pain of the injury continued, limiting his ability to conduct daily life activities.

Illinois injury attorneys at our office obtained the defendant's $20,000 insurance policy limits. The case against the at fault driver resolved without having to commit to a time-consuming and expensive lawsuit. That being said, attorneys at our office believe the value of his injuries are greater than $20,000, so we are now pursuing an underinsured motorist claim against the plaintiffs own auto insurance carrier to recover an additional amount.

You may be entitled to compensation for your auto accident injuries if they were caused by the fault of another. Contact the lawyers at Abels & Annes for a free, no obligation case evaluation and see what your options are. Call (866) 99-ABELS.

Chicago Car Accident Lawyer

How to (really) save Michigan’s No-Fault insurance system

There are two things that are currently being lost in the political debate of whether to change Michigan’s No-Fault insurance system.

The first is that since Michigan No-Fault was created, with one simple sentence 40 years ago, it has provided the best and most comprehensive system of health care coverage that exists in the United States.  Michigan No-Fault has created a system of health care that’s more comprehensive than Blue Cross Blue Shield, Medicare, Medicaid, workers’ comp and anything else.  And this remarkable one sentence created our No-Fault insurance system without using public tax dollars.

That is amazing.

It is also being completely lost in the current political debate about No-Fault “reform.”

Yes, No-Fault insurance in Michigan is expensive. But there is an easy fix that preserves the strengths of our current system, and that significantly lowers its costs.

Before we dismantle an insurance system that has been universally lauded by experts as a model system, we should be asking the question that so far, the two leading forces behind the push to destroy Michigan No-Fault insurance are not asking – the Republicans in the Michigan Legislature and the auto insurance industry that contributes and funds them: Why is No-Fault so expensive today?

And here’s the tragedy: We’re about to lose the best insurance system in the country because no one is looking at the simple fix.

The reason No-Fault is so expensive in Michigan is because the insurance companies are making huge profits on their auto No-Fault lines of insurance. The Republican legislators (and inexplicably, Virgil Smith, the Democratic from Detroit) completely ignore this point, which could significantly lower the cost of auto No-Fault for everyone, while keeping intact a system that provides better and more comprehensive health care coverage to Michigan drivers.

The simple fix is to regulate insurance company profits in order to save Michigan drivers money on their No-Fault premiums.

I realize people may read this think that because I’m a lawyer helping people in car accidents and no fault disputes with insurance companies, I’m biased in favor of our current system. That is true, and it is exactly the past nearly twenty years helping auto accident victims as a lawyer that qualifies me to write this.  As a Michigan No-Fault insurance lawyer, I see and help people every day while they’re recovering after catastrophic injuries, such as traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury from auto accidents.  And I see my clients receive a level of medical care that is better than any other, and at zero cost to the taxpayers.

I have read for years the studies that have repeatedly proclaimed Michigan’s No-Fault System the nation’s best, and I read the Angoff study from 2007 that warned that it was the auto insurers who were jeopardizing the current system by charging outlandish amounts and reaping record-breaking profits.

The fix to regulate insurance company profits is actually politically unthinkable. We would have to ask the Republicans who control the Michigan House and Senate to pass legislation to give the Michigan insurance commissioner the same power that insurance commissioners have in most other states: the power to regulate the amount of profits that auto insurance companies can charge us for No-Fault insurance, a product that we are legally required by the state of Michigan to purchase.

That simple, reasonable fix is impossible in our post-Citizens United world of unlimited corporate campaign donations. And these politicians who are most willing to destroy our current system are also the main beneficiaries of this new largesse.  And this largesse in the form of campaign contributions comes from insurance companies that want, and will likely now get, the best of both worlds – abolishing payments by replacing our current No-Fault system with PIP Choice, while boosting still higher insurance company profits in what is already the nation’s most profitable state to sell auto insurance.

A second simple fix is to address the cause of where the bulk of rising costs are today, which is comprehensive and collision coverage.  There is no need to destroy our unlimited medical care and coverage.  Comprehensive and collision coverage are the real cost drivers.  These insurance coverages are not mandatory, but they are coverages that many people buy.  The cost of collision can be contained in other ways.  Destroying unlimited PIP, the crown jewel of No-Fault, is not what is causing the problem.

We created 40 years ago with one sentence — not thousands of pages of legislation as today —  a health care system for auto accident victims that has been proven better than anything else that has come before or since in this country.

But instead of asking how to duplicate and replicate this across the nation, we are watching as political forces with special interests clearly adverse to what is best for the public good, make ready to destroy No-Fault and replace it with PIP Choice, a system where those that need it most are going to have it least.  A $50,000 limit, which is in the most current PIP Choice bill, is wiped out after a few days in an emergency room.  After this, the entire cost of medical care and rehabilitation for that person’s medical care for an entire lifetime will be shifted to the taxpayers and to Medicaid.

This is what the Republicans want to replace No-Fault with?

This tragedy will occur because no one today was willing to ask about the most simple and easy way that we could have taken to preserve the current No-Fault system by significantly lowering its costs.

Asking the same politicians who receive campaign donations from the profits the insurance industry makes to reform insurance company abuse - that is the main driver of the escalating cost of No-Fault insurance -  is unthinkable.  So we will destroy our No-Fault system instead, and replace it with something far worse and far more costly for everyone.

How tragic.

- Steven Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s top lawyers handling serious auto accident cases and insurance litigation. He writes about insurance company abuse and the Michigan No-Fault insurance laws, and is available for comment.

Related information:

Michigan No-Fault “reform” - bad for drivers, great for insurance companies

Injured Michigan accident victims can’t afford “savings” from proposed No-Fault “reform”

What are my Michigan No-Fault insurance benefits?

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our No-Fault insurance lawyers.

Kansas City Auto Accident Blog

How to (really) save Michigan’s No-Fault insurance system

There are two things that are currently being lost in the political debate of whether to change Michigan’s No-Fault insurance system.

The first is that since Michigan No-Fault was created, with one simple sentence 40 years ago, it has provided the best and most comprehensive system of health care coverage that exists in the United States.  Michigan No-Fault has created a system of health care that’s more comprehensive than Blue Cross Blue Shield, Medicare, Medicaid, workers’ comp and anything else.  And this remarkable one sentence created our No-Fault insurance system without using public tax dollars.

That is amazing.

It is also being completely lost in the current political debate about No-Fault “reform.”

Yes, No-Fault insurance in Michigan is expensive. But there is an easy fix that preserves the strengths of our current system, and that significantly lowers its costs.

Before we dismantle an insurance system that has been universally lauded by experts as a model system, we should be asking the question that so far, the two leading forces behind the push to destroy Michigan No-Fault insurance are not asking – the Republicans in the Michigan Legislature and the auto insurance industry that contributes and funds them: Why is No-Fault so expensive today?

And here’s the tragedy: We’re about to lose the best insurance system in the country because no one is looking at the simple fix.

The reason No-Fault is so expensive in Michigan is because the insurance companies are making huge profits on their auto No-Fault lines of insurance. The Republican legislators (and inexplicably, Virgil Smith, the Democratic from Detroit) completely ignore this point, which could significantly lower the cost of auto No-Fault for everyone, while keeping intact a system that provides better and more comprehensive health care coverage to Michigan drivers.

The simple fix is to regulate insurance company profits in order to save Michigan drivers money on their No-Fault premiums.

I realize people may read this think that because I’m a lawyer helping people in car accidents and no fault disputes with insurance companies, I’m biased in favor of our current system. That is true, and it is exactly the past nearly twenty years helping auto accident victims as a lawyer that qualifies me to write this.  As a Michigan No-Fault insurance lawyer, I see and help people every day while they’re recovering after catastrophic injuries, such as traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury from auto accidents.  And I see my clients receive a level of medical care that is better than any other, and at zero cost to the taxpayers.

I have read for years the studies that have repeatedly proclaimed Michigan’s No-Fault System the nation’s best, and I read the Angoff study from 2007 that warned that it was the auto insurers who were jeopardizing the current system by charging outlandish amounts and reaping record-breaking profits.

The fix to regulate insurance company profits is actually politically unthinkable. We would have to ask the Republicans who control the Michigan House and Senate to pass legislation to give the Michigan insurance commissioner the same power that insurance commissioners have in most other states: the power to regulate the amount of profits that auto insurance companies can charge us for No-Fault insurance, a product that we are legally required by the state of Michigan to purchase.

That simple, reasonable fix is impossible in our post-Citizens United world of unlimited corporate campaign donations. And these politicians who are most willing to destroy our current system are also the main beneficiaries of this new largesse.  And this largesse in the form of campaign contributions comes from insurance companies that want, and will likely now get, the best of both worlds – abolishing payments by replacing our current No-Fault system with PIP Choice, while boosting still higher insurance company profits in what is already the nation’s most profitable state to sell auto insurance.

A second simple fix is to address the cause of where the bulk of rising costs are today, which is comprehensive and collision coverage.  There is no need to destroy our unlimited medical care and coverage.  Comprehensive and collision coverage are the real cost drivers.  These insurance coverages are not mandatory, but they are coverages that many people buy.  The cost of collision can be contained in other ways.  Destroying unlimited PIP, the crown jewel of No-Fault, is not what is causing the problem.

We created 40 years ago with one sentence — not thousands of pages of legislation as today —  a health care system for auto accident victims that has been proven better than anything else that has come before or since in this country.

But instead of asking how to duplicate and replicate this across the nation, we are watching as political forces with special interests clearly adverse to what is best for the public good, make ready to destroy No-Fault and replace it with PIP Choice, a system where those that need it most are going to have it least.  A $50,000 limit, which is in the most current PIP Choice bill, is wiped out after a few days in an emergency room.  After this, the entire cost of medical care and rehabilitation for that person’s medical care for an entire lifetime will be shifted to the taxpayers and to Medicaid.

This is what the Republicans want to replace No-Fault with?

This tragedy will occur because no one today was willing to ask about the most simple and easy way that we could have taken to preserve the current No-Fault system by significantly lowering its costs.

Asking the same politicians who receive campaign donations from the profits the insurance industry makes to reform insurance company abuse - that is the main driver of the escalating cost of No-Fault insurance -  is unthinkable.  So we will destroy our No-Fault system instead, and replace it with something far worse and far more costly for everyone.

How tragic.

- Steven Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s top lawyers handling serious auto accident cases and insurance litigation. He writes about insurance company abuse and the Michigan No-Fault insurance laws, and is available for comment.

Related information:

Michigan No-Fault “reform” - bad for drivers, great for insurance companies

Injured Michigan accident victims can’t afford “savings” from proposed No-Fault “reform”

What are my Michigan No-Fault insurance benefits?

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our No-Fault insurance lawyers.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

Can You Pass the GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test? Kansas and Missouri Drivers Do Well

You are here: Home / Auto Accidents / Can You Pass the GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test? Kansas and Missouri Drivers Do Well

The annual GMAC Insurance National Drivers test results are out and it appears that 1 in 5 drivers on the nation’s roads are unable to pass the written drivers test. The good news is that Kansas tops the list nationally with the highest average score of 82.9%.  Missouri follows in at a close 8th in the nation with an average score of 81.3%.  The average score nationwide was 77.9%.

So does a better score on this test make for a better driver?  Although there is no way of tracking that statistic to date, logic says that having more knowledge of the laws of our nation’s roadways would certainly help drivers operate their vehicles more safely.  With that in mind, it appears that men are better drivers than women, with 1 in 4 women failing the test.  The northeast scored the lowest on the test, with the midwest region scoring the highest.  Age appears to be a factor too.  Drivers in the 60-65 age range were the highest scoring of all the age groups.

Want to know how you would fare on the test?  Take the exam yourself at www.nationaldriverstest.com and let us know how you did.  The test is 20 basic questions taken from state Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) exams and just takes a few minutes to complete.

At Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys, we know how much of an impact an auto accident can have on a family.  Medical bills, insurance claims, physical therapy, etc., can mount causing major problems for those involved.  Let’s see if we can continue to lead the nation with high scores on driving tests and reduce the number of accidents on our Kansas City roadways!  Be sure to give us your feedback on the test!

If you have suffered a serious injury in an auto accident in Kansas or Missouri, call experienced Kansas City Personal Injury Lawyer James Roswold.  With over 15 years of experience in Auto Injury Accidents, we may be able to help you get through this difficult and stressful time.

Contact Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys to set up a free consultation to discuss your injury claim.  You can download our free book, “10 Essential Steps to Protecting Your Injury Claim“.  We want you to know your rights.

Posted by author on Monday, June 6, 2011 at 9:02 am 
Filed under Auto Accidents · Tagged with Department of Motor Vehicles, DMV, GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test, Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys, Missouri, national driving test, written drivers test

Kansas City Auto Accident Blog

Who’s really behind Sen. Virgil Smith’s plan to destroy Detroit residents’ No-Fault insurance rights?

The Detroit Free Press reported on June 6, 2011 that Detroit could become a test for a much less expensive, bare-bones form of new No-Fault auto insurance.  The plan is sponsored by State Sen. Virgil Smith. Sadly, the new plan Virgil Smith is considering is terrible for Detroit residents injured in auto accidents.

Virgil Smith’s plan would devastate the legal rights of Detroiters seriously injured in auto accidents.  It takes the worst of Michigan’s No-Fault insurance benefits (also called first-party or PIP benefits)  and third-party pain and suffering benefits, and lops off accident victims’ ability to purchase currently optional uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. In other words, the “basic” No-Fault that Smith envisions is so ridiculously low,  it would be wiped out before someone leaves the emergency room if they’ve suffered serious personal injury from an auto accident.

In turn, the costs for the injured driver would be shifted to Medicaid, and the burden of medical care shifted to the public taxpayers. Also, as the government through Medicaid and Medicare would presumably have a lien on the amount of medical care it has paid, injured accident victims would then get nothing for their injuries and pain and suffering in their lawsuit against the at-fault driver. As I said, Smith’s plan takes the  worst of both worlds.

Ironically, none of this deters Virgil Smith. Consumer groups have been telling him for years that his No- Fault insurance proposals are terrible for Detroit residents. Others, such as the Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault and nearly every member of the Democratic Party in Detroit, have also told him his ideas are  devastating for Detroit residents seriously injured in auto accidents. It seems the only people who really like this idea are the auto insurance companies.

Smith says auto insurance premiums for Detroit residents must be lowered. I agree. But there are better and more effective ways of accomplishing this. Smith says he wants to take away important legal rights, such as life-time medical benefits, to lower the price of auto No-Fault insurance for City of Detroit residents.

But why is Smith not taking on the auto insurance companies?  For example, even though Michigan’s auto insurance companies enjoy some of the highest profitability margins in the nation here, Michigan is one of the few states without an insurance commissioner that can regulate the amount of profits insurance companies can make - for a product that we as drivers are legally required to buy.

If Smith truly cared about Detroiters as he says he does, and wants to lower insurance rates as he says he does, wouldn’t this be a better way to lower premiums instead of crushing the legal rights of Detroiters?

And what about red-lining and credit scoring?

Since the only ones who seem to be supporting Smith in this effort to destroy the legal rights of Detroiters seriously injured in auto accidents is the Insurance Institute of Michigan, doesn’t it beg the question of who really is putting Virgil Smith up to this?

Here’s the full story in the Detroit Free Press: Cheaper auto insurance that limits injury coverage in the works

- Steven M. Gursten is head of Michigan Auto Law. He is recognized as one of the nation’s top insurance lawyers handling serious auto injury cases and No-Fault litigation. Michigan Auto Law has received the top jury verdict for a car accident or truck accident in 2008, 2009 and 2010, according to Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Additional resources to protect yourself:

Show us the money from proposed changes to Michigan’s No-Fault law

Why Detroit papers are falling for the proposed elimination of Michigan No-Fault law

Michigan No-Fault insurance resource center

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident,  motorcycle accident and No-Fault insurance lawsuits throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with an insurance lawyer. We are here to help you.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

Michigan No-Fault insurance allows van purchase for injured auto accident victim

There’s an important new case on van modifications.  For car accident lawyers and insurance lawyers helping people in litigation over van modifications or the purchase of handicapped accessible vans; and for lawyers with clients who have suffered spinal cord injuries and now require wheelchairs, this new No-Fault insurance case should have an immediate impact in settlement negotiations.

In the case, a Michigan car accident victim who suffered serious personal injury (including needing  a  wheelchair), is entitled to the full purchase price of a replacement van from his No-Fault insurance company. Under the Michigan No-Fault Act, the auto insurance company of the personal injury victim is required to purchase the entire vehicle, rather than only the cost of modifying a motor vehicle that was previously owned.

Under Michigan’s No-Fault law, the cost of a modified van is considered an allowable expense for someone who has suffered serious personal injury and requires it.  This has been the law in Michigan since Davis v. Citizens Ins Co, 195 Mich App 323 (1992).

A recent Michigan Court of Appeals case, Admire v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co., digs up this issue in a different way.

The main issue in Admire v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co. was how the transportation expense requirement has been changed by Griffith v State Farm Mut Auto Ins Co, 472 Mich 521; (2005).  In Admire, Auto Owners made the following argument based upon Griffith: because the plaintiff drove a motor vehicle before his car accident and the serious injuries that required the purchase of a modified van, that van is not a compensable benefit. In other words, if the plaintiff would have used a van before his car accident, then Auto Owners is not required to purchase or modify a van for him after the crash, because he drove before.

This silly argument - if a person would or could have used something before being seriously injured - would essentially negate any insurance company’s responsibility to pay for anything under the Michigan No-Fault Act. It ignores that now, after a car accident, a van has become required for a person’s care, recovery or rehabilitation. That’s the critical inquiry insurance lawyers must make to recover benefits.

Also, this argument had been previously rejected in a prior No-Fault insurance case dealing with allowable expenses, called Begin v. Michigan Bell Telephone Co, 284 Mich App 581, (2009).  Begin also ruled that Davis has not overruled by Griffith.

Begin stated that, in certain instances: ‘the product, service, or accommodation used by the injured person before an accident is so blended with another product, service, or accommodation that the whole cost is an allowable expense if it satisfies the statutory criteria of being sufficiently related to injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident and if it is a reasonable charge and reasonably necessary for the injured person’s care, recovery, or rehabilitation under MCL 500.3107(1)(a).’ …

Admire v. Auto Owners is an extremely important No-Fault case. The Auto Owners argument, if adopted, would have blown a huge gaping hole in the Michigan No-Fault Act, the nation’s best insurance law.  If the Auto Owners rationale had been accepted, an auto insurance company would be able to exclude paying for nearly anything that a severely injured person would need or require if it could show that a person used or could have used that product or service before his or her car accident.

To Auto Owners, it didn’t matter that the car accident victim was now in a wheelchair from his car accident, and required a modified transportation van to get to doctors appointments. Fortunately for everyone, and especially those who have suffered catastrophic injury and require attendant care, transportation, and home modifications, the courts in Admire and Begin have rejected this attempt to avoid payment.

As stated: “here plaintiff claimed, and presented evidence, that his transportation needs were different from those of an uninjured person and that the modified van for which he sought reimbursement was related to care necessitated by his injuries arising out of the operation or use of a motor vehicle.”

- Steven Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s top insurance lawyers handling serious auto accident lawsuits. He writes about insurance company abuse and the Michigan No-Fault laws, and is available for comment.

Related information:

Your Michigan No-Fault benefits

3 potential cases after an auto accident

The pain and suffering lawsuit

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our No-Fault insurance lawyers.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

Michigan No-Fault ‘reform’ is bad for drivers, but great for insurance companies

“Reform” does not mean lowering premiums. It does not mean ending Michigan’s problem with too many people driving without any auto insurance. “Reform” is the  insurance industry’s way of saying “Let’s boost our [already record-breaking] profits.”

Michigan drivers (and voters) would do well to remember this as Michigan’s auto insurance industry proposes new  “reform” (read, dismantling) of Michigan’s No Fault insurance system. Previously, the Insurance Institute of Michigan and its executive director, Pete Kuhnmuench, have described Michigan No-Fault insurance as “offering the best No-Fault medical benefits of any state” and providing policyholders with “the Cadillac of auto insurance policies.”

What changed?  With Republicans now in control in the Michigan Legislature, the insurance company lobbyists are sensing an opportunity to boost profits in the state - already the highest in the nation in insurance company profitability. Gone are the comments about Michigan “offering the best No-Fault benefits” and other talk of how good a deal our No-Fault system actually is for state residents.

Currently, in return for an auto insurance premium that the Insurance Journal has called “extremely reasonable,” Michigan’s mandatory No-Fault insurance system provides personal protection insurance coverage (also called No-Fault PIP) which guarantees Michigan auto accident victims unlimited medical benefits to assist with their auto accident-related care, recovery and rehabilitation.

That means that even if a Michigan auto accident victim’s medical expenses runs as high as $100,000 or $500,000 or $1 million, those expenses are paid in full by the victim’s No-Fault auto insurance company.

However, under the “reform” proposed by Michigan’s auto insurance industry, that would now all change.

Under the Michigan auto insurance industry’s proposed “reform,” Michigan drivers would trade their unlimited medical benefits for LIMITED medical benefits (say… medical benefits capped at $50,000).

And, the trade-off for being duped into abandoning “the best No-Fault medical benefits” in the country is that Michigan drivers might have a couple hundred dollars shaved off of their annual No-Fault auto insurance premium.

I say “might” because the insurance industry has promised us savings before, in return for greater restrictions. For example, in 1995, they promised us dramatic savings on car insurance in exchange for Michigan adopting the most draconian injury threshold law in the nation - one that made it very hard to sue someone else for injuries and pain and suffering - and yet car insurance premiums only continued to go up.

It looks like this new  dangerous and inadequate auto insurance will soon be tested on Detroit residents, under the unproven statement that it’s “cheaper.”

The absurdity of this is made all the more obvious when two points are considered:

1. First, $50,000 in medical benefits provides woefully inadequate coverage for seriously or catastrophically injured Michigan auto accident victims. “[A] single injury can cost millions of dollars,” the Insurance Institute of Michigan has said. And if $50,000 is the medical cap, it is burned through in the emergency room in any serious injury car accident, leaving the remainder to the taxpayers and Medicaid.

2. There is no guarantee that Michigan drivers will ever actually see any savings as a result of the so-called “reform” that Michigan’s auto insurance industry is trying to foist upon them.

In more than 60 pages of proposed House and Senate bills explaining in excruciating detail the myriad ways in which Michigan auto insurance companies can dismantle Michigan drivers’ unlimited medical benefits, there is not a single word promising Michigan drivers “savings” — let alone how much or for how long — as their compensation for having “the best No-Fault medical benefits” in the country slashed.

The industry has backed proposed Michigan No-Fault “reform” legislation in 2008 and 2010 and will undoubtedly throw its support behind the proposed legislation that is certain to surface in the near future. Notably, both previous bills — Senate Bill 1278 and House Bill 6094 — “died” from inactivity at the end of their respective legislative terms.

“Profits are essential,” as the president of the Insurance Information Institute told the Michigan House Insurance Committee in December 2009.

And, profits lie at the heart of the Michigan auto insurance industry’s crusade to “reform” Michigan’s No-Fault system. Not saving money for Michigan drivers or trying to end Michigan’s “uninsured motorist” problem, as the industry’s press releases and journal articles strain credulity to suggest.

- Steven M. Gursten is head of Michigan Auto Law. He is recognized as one of the nation’s top lawyers handling serious auto injury cases and No-Fault litigation. Michigan Auto Law has received the highest jury verdict for a car accident or truck accident in 2008, 2009 and 2010, according to Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Additional resources to protect yourself:

Show us the money from proposed changes to our No-Fault law

Why Detroit papers are falling for proposed elimination of Michigan’s No-Fault law

Your Michigan No-Fault benefits

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident,  motorcycle accident and No-Fault insurance lawsuits throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with a car insurance lawyer. We are here to help you.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

What’s behind the insurance industry’s attack on Michigan doctors?

Doctors that provide necessary medical treatment for auto accident injury victims are now being targeted by the Michigan insurance industry.  As of now, the powerful medical lobby has yet to take on the insurance industry allegations. But it’s an important issue that people need to be aware of, and if the insurance industry has its way (to further boost record-breaking insurance company profits in this state), the quality and care of medicine for thousands of auto accident victims will suffer.

There is a  proposal to regulate medical fees in auto accident cases, and it’s part of a package of pending Senate bills aiming to destroy Michigan’s No-Fault system.

As an insurance lawyer in Michigan, I believe the proposal to cap fees for doctors treating car accident victims should be opposed. The proposal to cap fees reeks of hypocrisy: Michigan auto insurance companies have successfully defeated governmental attempts to regulate the price of auto insurance for decades, even though the government requires drivers to purchase No-Fault insurance.

But now, the same insurance industry is asking its Republican allies in the Michigan Legislature to regulate the prices charged by another industry – the doctors who provide care for accident victims.

Why? Because regulation of doctors and hospitals that provide care under the No-Fault Act to auto accident victims will significantly boost the profits of the Michigan auto insurance companies.

In Senate Bill 0294, Michigan’s auto insurance industry through its advocate-lawmakers, proposes limiting the fees that doctors can charge and bill to No-Fault insurance companies for medical treatments and services provided to auto accident victims.

Under the bill, doctors’ charges to auto insurance companies would be limited to the amounts specified in a predetermined medical fee schedule. The fee limit would apply to such medical treatments and procedures as:

•    Surgery
•    Radiology
•    Hospitalizations
•    Mental health services
•    Hearing and vision services
•    Home health services
•    Medical equipment
•    Medical supplies
•    Orthotics
•    Prosthetics
•    Dental services
•    Medications
•    Occupational therapy
•    Physical therapy.

If the facts and data actually supported the allegations being made, I would support it. But as of yet, these are only blanket assertions made by lobbyists without any factual support. The auto insurance industry insists regulation is necessary because doctors are “defrauding” the insurance system in Michigan with padded bills and charges for expensive, but unnecessary and ineffective procedures, which is forcing auto insurance companies to pay out more money (than they want to) on medical claims filed by car accident victims.

Consider the following ridiculous and shameful accusations made against doctors who treat seriously and catastrophically injured auto accident victims:

•    The American Insurance Association has said that “fraudulent activities and claim-padding abuse” by doctors and medical providers is possible under an “unlimited No-Fault benefit system” such as Michigan’s.

•    The Insurance Research Council has accused doctors and medical care providers who treat seriously and catastrophically injured auto accident victims in Michigan and other states of committing “claim fraud” (“material misrepresentation of the facts of a loss”) and “claim buildup” (“inflation of an otherwise legitimate claim, such as through unnecessary medical treatments and diagnostic procedures”).

•    Moreover, the Insurance Research Council has also accused doctors of “reacting to cost pressures … by increasing their charges to auto injury insurers.” The Rand Institute for Civil Justice has made similar allegations.

Even former Michigan Insurance Commissioner D. Joseph Olson has joined the smear campaign against doctors and medical care providers who treat seriously and catastrophically injured Michigan auto accident victims.

In a paper he co-authored last year, Olson stopped just short of blatantly accusing doctors of defrauding No-Fault insurance companies.

“When an individual suffers an injury [in a Michigan auto accident] and the insurance company must pay all — or nearly all — medical costs, both the injured party and those who are delivering treatment will have every incentive to choose very expensive treatments even if the added value of those treatments is small. … Given the incentives by medical care providers to use expensive treatments, it is a problem that the state has no constraints on costs, such as medical fee schedules …”

What goes unmentioned in those attacks is that they are not backed up with actual, real-world examples in Michigan.

The Insurance Institute of Michigan, which is the voice of the state’s insurance industry, provides no evidence on its website of a widespread crisis on the scale that might begin to justify the bill targeting Michigan doctors.

In fact, in the “Insurance-related crime” section of the Insurance Institute of Michigan’s 2010 IIM Fact Book, there is no mention of the so-called “No Fault-defrauding-doctors” epidemic, let alone a single example.

- Steven Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s top insurance attorneys handling serious auto accident lawsuits. He writes about insurance company abuse and the Michigan No-Fault laws, and is available for comment.

- This blog was written by Steven Gursten and Todd Berg, esq.

Related information:

Allstate must pay $21 million for defaming doctor

Allstate won’t be targeting Michigan doctors who help car accident victims

Three potential cases for Michigan auto accidents

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our No-Fault insurance attorneys.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

The best auto insurance coverage for teen drivers in Michigan

There’s a new teenage driving law in Michigan – that restricts passengers of teen drivers and only allows them to drive until 10 p.m. In addition to questions about the new law, our No-Fault lawyers have been getting many questions from concerned parents on insurance coverage for teen drivers, especially during this time of college graduation.

We realize that parents are trying to save money on their kids’ car insurance.  And trust me, we recognize that the cost of insuring a teen driver is expensive - auto insurance is one of the few areas where it is legal to discriminate on the basis of age, after all. But many parents are making huge mistakes by trying to save a few dollars.

The biggest mistake I see regarding teen drivers is not listing your teenager as a “named insured” on your auto insurance policy. This is very dangerous. And if your teen causes (or is injured in) a serious car accident when driving a car that she normally drives but is not listed on as a “named insured” or “named driver,” there can be disastrous consequences. These consequences include your child’s medical bills not being covered by your own auto insurance company, and being barred from suing an at-fault driver who causes serious personal injury to your teenager - even when your teen is completely innocent.

That’s why I’m posting frequently asked questions below, with answers on the best automobile insurance coverage for your new teen drivers.

Q. My child is now a teen driver. What changes do I need to make to my auto insurance to make sure my teenager is protected under the Michigan No-Fault law?
A. A parent must inform his insurance company that there is a new licensed driver in the home. Parents are also supposed to list the primary driver of each vehicle (named-drivers).  If parents purposely avoid listing their teenagers, either as living in the house or as named-drivers,  this could be considered insurance fraud, and coverage can be canceled by your insurance company where the policy is considered void ab initio.

Q.  What is the best level of coverage for my teen/college age driver?
A. Assuming the teen has her own separate auto insurance coverage, the minimum policies she should carry should be $250,000/$500,000 for bodily injury (personal injury if she causes an auto accident) and $250,000/$500,000 in Unininsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UM/UIM).  If the teen is on her parents’ policy, her coverage is the same. Every person should purchase UM/UIM. It is the best insurance coverage, and many people know nothing about it.  Ask your agent about this coverage, and if your insurance company doesn’t offer these important Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage, you should find a new insurance company to properly protect you and your family.

Q. How should a family’s policy be structured if the teen drives a parent’s car versus having his own car?
A. A teen should be listed as a named-driver, so the auto insurer can never say that it was unaware that there were teens in the house or that the teens drove the car.  If the teen owns the car, then the teen really should be a named-insured or co-named-insured.

Q. If a teen is driving her car and the passengers are injured in an accident, how are those passengers covered by the Michigan No-Fault law?
A. The order of auto insurers would be the same as any car accident:
1. The passenger would receive No-Fault benefits through his own insurance.
2. If the passenger does not have auto insurance, then he would receive No-Fault benefits from a resident-relative.
3. If that relative is not covered,  then the passenger would seek benefits from owner of the car.
4. If the car owner is uninsured then the passenger would receive benefits from the driver of the car.
5. If all else fails, the passenger would look to the Michigan Assigned Claims Facility for No-Fault benefits.

Q. What can a parent/teen do to make sure the teen is protected while riding as a passenger in a friend’s car?
A. As long as the teen or resident-relative has insurance, the teen is protected by the Michigan No-Fault law and can receive all of the No-Fault insurance benefits in case she is injured in a serious car accident.  As long as the teen is not operating an uninsured vehicle that she could be considered an owner of by frequent use (constructive ownership), she is going to receive No-Fault insurance benefits from somewhere (see answer to previous question).

Q. How can teens and parents minimize the costs and premiums of their auto insurance policies while still being fully protected? (higher deductible, etc?)
A. Once the proper insurance coverage has been determined, call an independent insurance agent that represents several auto insurance companies, to determine which insurer will give the best rate.

- Steve Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s top lawyers handling serious car accident injury cases and auto No-Fault litigation. Steve speaks and writes extensively on safe driving and Michigan’s auto  laws, and is available for comment.

Related information:

TBI – leading cause of death and disability for American youth

Top 5 hazardous actions by teen drivers

Pain and suffering and your car accident

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle
accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand
Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our insurance lawyers.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

Top 4 Best Auto Insurance Companies – 2011

As a No-Fault insurance attorney only helping people in auto accidents, I’m asked at least once a week what auto insurance companies I actually like. Here’s my updated list for the auto insurance companies that give people some of the best value for their auto premium dollars.

I knocked off some insurance companies - like Farm Bureau General Insurance Company of Michigan - because even though they also have low prices, my own personal experiences with them (along with the other 17 insurance attorneys here), is that they treat their customers poorly when they’re injured and need No-Fault insurance benefits or attendant care. Farm Bureau has also written very restrictive language in its UIM policy language.

The following list is comprised of auto insurance companies that have the best:
•    Price,
•    Assurance that valid auto accident and injury claims will be paid, and
•    Good customer service.

With those factors in mind, I evaluated the top 10 largest auto insurance companies in Michigan, as well as a couple other auto insurers to see what they had to offer.

Based on my analysis, the insurers who made my list of the Best Auto Insurance Companies for 2011 are:

•    Auto-Owners Insurance Company

•    Home-Owners Insurance Company

•    Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Company

•    Grange Insurance Company of Michigan

Below are my reasons for including each auto insurer on my list.

For the past three years, Auto-Owners has won the J.D. Powers and Associates’ Auto Claims Satisfaction Study, ranking “highest in overall satisfaction among auto insurance claimants …” Each year, Auto-Owners earned the highly coveted rating, “Among the best.”

Additionally, in the J.D. Powers and Associates’ 2010 National Auto Insurance Study, which measures customer satisfaction with auto insurance companies, Auto-Owners was rated “Better than most.”

Auto-Owners topped the list for paying out the highest percentage of its premium dollars in claims. For instance, for every premium dollar Auto-Owners receives from Michigan drivers, it pays out approximately $.74 in auto accident claims.

Auto-Owners’ prices were among the lowest in all five of the markets examined in compiling the list of the Best Auto Insurance Companies for 2011.

Finally, Auto-Owners received relatively few consumer complaints.

Home-Owners had the lowest prices in two of the five markets examined.

Additionally, Home-Owners paid out the second highest percentage of premium dollars in claims. For every premium dollar Home-Owners received from Michigan drivers, it paid out $.69 in auto accident claims.

Grange Insurance Company of Michigan has been my personal favorite for the last couple years. The people at Grange just try to do the right thing. Last month, one of my co-workers had a drunk driver slam into her husband’s pick-up truck that was parked in front of their house in the early morning hours. Even though they had a substantial deductible, the Grange adjuster waived it. If you look at the consumer satisfaction sites below, Grange receives very few consumer complaints.

Michigan Millers Mutual topped the list for fewest consumer complaints, and the insurers’ prices ranked among the lowest in four of the five markets examined.

I hope you find my list of the Best Auto Insurance Companies for 2011 helpful. Do you think your auto insurance company deserves to be counted as one of the best? Leave a comment here, or post it on the Michigan Auto Law Facebook page.

If you’ve been in a car accident in Michigan and you’re confused about your No-Fault insurance rights, call Michigan Auto Law at (800) 777-0028. You can speak directly with an insurance attorney, and the advice is free.

- Steven M. Gursten is head of Michigan Auto Law. He is recognized as one of the nation’s top attorneys handling serious auto injury cases and No-Fault litigation. Michigan Auto Law has received the highest jury verdict for a car accident or truck accident in 2008, 2009 and 2010, according to Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Additional resources to protect yourself:

Top 6 Worst Auto Insurance Companies – 2011

How to choose the best auto insurance company in Michigan

Three potential cases after a Michigan auto accident

Sources for the best insurance companies list

•    Insurance Institute of Michigan, 2010 IIM Fact Book (Page 27)

•    Insurance Company Complaint Ratios (Automobile Coverage), Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation

•    “The Competitiveness and Premium Excessiveness of the … Auto Insurance Industr[y] in the State of Michigan,” Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (Appendix L)

•    2008 Buyers Guide to Auto Insurance, Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (See Example 3 on Page 16 and markets NED (Northeast Detroit), LAN (Lansing), TRA (Traverse City), SAG (Saginaw) and GRA (Grand Rapids)

•    J.D. Power and Associates, 2010 Auto Claims Satisfaction and 2010 National Auto Insurance studies.

2010 IIM Fact Book - Auto Insurance

State of Michigan complaint ratios for insurance companies

State of Michigan - competitiveness report

State of Michigan - auto insurance companies’ combined loss ratios

State of Michigan auto buyer guide

J.D. Power and Associates - Satisfaction with auto claims process declines

J.D. Power and Associates - Auto insurance ratings and claims

J.D. Power and Associates - National auto insurance study

J.D. Power and Associates - Auto Insurance Provider Ratings

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident,  motorcycle accident and No-Fault insurance lawsuits throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with an auto insurance attorney. We are here to help you.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

Let’s stop predatory auto insurance company solicitation of car accident victims too

Yesterday, I wrote about the new amendment to MRPC 7.3, which I support.  This amendment will  help curb lawyer solicitation letters to car accident victims.

Now it’s time to do something about the auto insurance companies and claims adjusters that are out there contacting accident victims immediately after a car accident has occurred.

Fact: Cases with an experienced accident lawyer settle for four times more than cases without a lawyer. This statistic is from the insurance industry,  and it is why it’s increasingly common to see insurance claims adjusters pop up at the homes of people to try to settle accident injury cases cheap.  Some claims adjusters literally camp outside the homes of people who have been seriously injured, waiting for them to come home from the hospital.

The trucking industry also knows this, and the major topic at the big trucking defense seminars is get to the victims of serious truck accidents as quickly as possible before they can hire a truck accident lawyer, because it can save the auto insurance company hundreds of thousands of dollars. From my own cases, I can say the greater the number of safety violations - whether they be driving past regulated hours, speeding, or prior truck accidents - the stronger the push by the insurance company to settle the case before an accident lawyer gets involved. In a catastrophic injury or truck death case, literally millions can be left on the table.

One trucking defense industry insider even wrote a law review article on this topic of reaching accident victims early. I’ve written in the past about the now notorious case, where an insurance company for a trucking company that caused a fatal truck accident settled a case with the surviving spouse for the death of her husband by buying the family a new car.

The larger point behind the amendment to MRPC 7.3 on lawyer solicitation is trying to protect the reputation of the legal profession and to protect auto accident victims who are unfamiliar with their legal rights and what compensation they’re rightfully entitled. That last point – protecting the public from abuse and those who would profit by taking unfair advantage of them – is why the ban on direct lawyer solicitation within the first 30 days after a car accident or truck accident was recently enacted in Michigan.

An amendment to MRPC 7.3 (that goes into effect on September 1, 2011), should and must include other groups as well. Unfortunately, this ethics rule change only effects solicitation lawyers who bombard auto accident victims with direct mail (often after getting their name from bribing a police officer, since waiting for the FOIA responses on traffic accidents has proved too slow with so much competition from other injury lawyers).

This rule change has no effect on the auto  insurance companies that unfairly target car accident victims for early settlement, and are calling these people up at home or sending claims adjusters and investigators to knock on their doors.

There are two common sense solutions that could work here.

1. The first is for Michigan to adopt what a number of other states, such as Washington, have done; and that is to say that these auto insurance companies and claims adjusters that contact accident victims immediately following serious car accidents are engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.

So far, nothing has been done along these lines, even though the situation is becoming increasingly common and widespread. But if a claims adjuster for an adverse party in interest – the insurance company that is required by law to pay fair compensation – can contact an injured auto accident victim by phone or at home and make representations as to what Michigan law is and what the injuries are worth is not the unauthorized practice of law, then I do not know what is.

2. The second common sense solution is to instill the same waiting period – 30 days at least –  for all parties who target (prey) upon the direct contact and solicitation of someone seriously injured in an auto accident.

I personally feel the 30 days is not sufficient. This is because for many injuries such as a traumatic brain injury, a spinal cord or herniated disk - or even a serious fracture – it’s impossible to know the full extent of the injury within 30 days.

But  30 days would at least allow an accident victim time to investigate what they are entitled to and what the law provides for them.  It at least allows people injured in car accidents a level playing field with the insurance company adjusters. It allows these accident victims to learn what their legal rights are. If our common aim is to promote fairness and justice, then it is hard to see how a no contact or solicitation rule of at least 30 days (and preferably 60 or 90 days) applied equally and fairly to all groups that are contacting injured car accident victims immediately after an injury accident fails to serve the public interest.

- Steve Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s top car accident lawyers. He writes about insurance company abuse and the insurance laws in Michigan, and is available for comment.

Related information:

Lawyer advice to truck accident victims: Beware of strangers bearing gifts

Beware of insurance companies bearing gifts - Part II

Pain and suffering lawsuit

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our accident lawyers.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

City of Detroit making it hard for accident victims to receive No-Fault insurance benefits

Below is a letter to Kevin Clinton, Michigan’s new insurance commissioner, from a Detroit accident lawyer. This letter is a good example of how auto insurance companies, including municipalities like Detroit, are making it nearly impossible for seriously injured bus accident victims to recover their No-Fault insurance benefits.

April 18, 2011

VIA CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED

Kevin Clinton, Commissioner
Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation
611 West Ottawa Street, 3rd Floor
Lansing, MI  48933

Re:    Claimant

Dear Mr. Clinton:

I have listed one of my clients in the above caption, but the problems presented in this letter are now occurring with many of my clients, as well as for those accident victims who I frequently assist as a courtesy.

Recently, the City of Detroit Law Department has implemented new procedures that have made it much more difficult for bus accident claimants to recover Michigan No-Fault (PIP) benefits, for accidents involving City of Detroit  vehicles (i.e. DDOT).  The following is a list of problems that the City of Detroit  has created for new accident claimants:

1. The City of Detroit now requires claimants to print 14 pages of forms off of the Internet and mail them to the City, before they will issue a claim number. Many of these forms go far above and beyond what is required by MCL 500.3145 and it is intentionally burdensome. I am also concerned by the large number of residents who do not have Internet access. It also raises fundamental fairness concerns as to why the City of Detroit Law Department is creating these unnecessary obstacles with residents, many of whom will struggle to complete these 14 pages of unnecessary and complicated paperwork.

2. They have eliminated the ability of accident victims to report accidents over the phone, which every other insurer in Michigan allows.

3. The City of Detroit investigators (insurance adjusters) are not contacting the accident claimants by phone or via mail, and are not providing bus accident victims with their claim number information. As a result, many doctors will not treat these people for auto accident-related  personal injuries. This is contrary to the entire purpose and intent of the Michigan No-Fault Act, which is to provide prompt care and recovery to accident and injury victims.

4. When the clients call the City of Detroit claims adjusters and investigators, the voice mails are full and there is no way to leave a message.

5. The City is not paying bills on a timely basis pursuant to the No-Fault Act.  This  is not a recent development with the City of Detroit.

It is unacceptable for the City of Detroit, as a self-insured entity, to be allowed to treat its residents in this manner. On several occasions, I have had to call one or more of the attorneys on staff at the Detroit Law Department just to get a claim number. A person should not be forced to have to hire a lawyer just to get a claim number.

Very truly yours,

Jeffrey A. Bussell

Michigan Auto Law

- This blog was written by Jeffrey A. Bussell. Jeff joined Michigan Auto Law’s pre-lawsuit division with extensive experience in No-Fault insurance litigation. He works closely with car accident victims in the early stages of their lawsuits.

Related information:

Michigan Auto Law Detroit office

Legal loophole lets SMART bus off the hook - despite causing serious bus accident

3 potential cases for Michigan auto accidents

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our auto accident lawyers.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

No-Fault tip for insurance lawyers – Pick your venue for PIP cases

It’s a simple rule that all too many insurance lawyers tend to forget: you can file No Fault lawsuits (also called personal injury protection (PIP) cases) in any court venue you choose in Michigan.

The mistake is that most No Fault lawyers assume you have to file the PIP (the insurance case for No Fault benefits)  in the same venue where you are required to file  your third-party auto negligence case (this is the case for pain and suffering against the driver and his/her insurance company who caused the accident).   But a No-Fault PIP case is a contract action, not a tort action.  As a contact action, it does not have to be filed in the venue where the underlying car accident occurred.

There’s published and unpublished case law in Michigan supporting this. It has been repeatedly held by the Court of Appeals that a No Fault case is a contract action that is subject to the venue statute found at MCL 600.1621. Ferguson v. Pioneer State Mutual Insurance Company of Michigan, 273 Mich App 47, 50-55 (2006); see, also, Shiroka v. Farm Bureau, 276 Mich App 98, 104-109 (2007). The contract venue statute provides that a proper venue is where:

A. the county in which a defendant resides, has place of business, or conducts business or in which the registered office of a defendant corporation is located, is a proper county in which to commence and try an action. MCL 600.1621.

In other words, No Fault insurers do business in every county of the state. Therefore, you could file in a venue you like, or that is more convenient. You can do this for every single one of your No-Fault PIP cases. For example, before we moved to our main office to Farmington Hills from Southfield, I used to file many of my No Fault PIP cases in Southfield District Court, and I would literally walk across the street for hearings and motions. That saved me hours of travel time and allowed me to help many more people (sadly, there’s never a shortage of people being denied auto insurance benefits by claims adjusters in Michigan, a state without bad faith laws, punitive damages, or a consumer protection act to protect people from insurance company abuse).

Another example, Michigan Auto Law has a Sterling Heights law office. It makes much more sense for  Sterling Heights auto accident lawyers to file in  Macomb County  - either circuit court or district court, then to travel to  a further venue, such as where someone was injured and has her third-party case.

- Steve Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s top No Fault lawyers handling serious auto accident lawsuits. He writes about insurance company abuse and the insurance laws in Michigan, and is available for comment.

Related information:

Your Michigan No Fault benefits

Help for Michigan injury lawyers

Three potential cases for auto accidents in Michigan

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our No Fault insurance lawyers.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Insurance for truckers injured in truck accidents

I blog about truck accidents and trucker safety quite a bit.  Although I’ve received some comments from truckers accusing me of being “anti-trucker,”  that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I’ve received far more comments from truckers asking for help or with questions on what to do when the company they work for is pressuring them to do something illegal.  And I have many injured truckers as clients - after they’ve been hurt in truck accidents on the job.

A question I’m frequently asked by injured truckers is: Where will my insurance come from?

Assuming you’re a Michigan resident, commercial truck drivers are always entitled to No-Fault insurance in the event of a truck accident - even if the crash happens in another state. But whether a truck driver is employed by a trucking company or works as an independent contractor will change what kind of insurance applies.

If you’re a trucker who is employed by a trucking company and you’re injured while on the job, the primary payer will be workers compensation insurance. The trucking company will also have No-Fault insurance coverage on the tractor, if it’s registered in Michigan.

The Michigan No-Fault insurance supplements what is not covered by workers compensation insurance. But No-Fault also covers more than the gaps in workers compensation insurance.

For example, if you are seriously injured in a truck accident by another motorist, many commercial truck policies have large uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) policies. That provides a critically important additional source of financial recovery in a lawsuit. Warning: Many employers will not freely share this information after a serious injury, so always ask your employer  exactly what kind of insurance coverage they have, and ask for a copy of the policy.

If you have questions, call an experienced truck accident lawyer who is familiar with reading dec sheets and insurance policies. A good lawyer will never charge you to review a policy. And make sure you are getting all the insurance policies. I often subpoena the insurance agent to make sure the defense lawyer is turning over the umbrella and excess coverages (amazing how often they claim to be surprised) and have been able to find additional millions of dollars in coverage for catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases.

A truck accident attorney who understands both No-Fault and third-party (also called the tort or accident lawsuit or pain and suffering) can help  you all of the insurance benefits you are afforded under work comp, No-Fault, and third-party insurance policies.

Many truck drivers are independent contractors who own a tractor-trailer and work for several companies on an as-need basis. At times, they operate in “bobtail mode,” which means they have no trailer attached to the tractor, but may or may not be under dispatch to a trucking company.

The independent contract truck drivers often have their trucks registered in the home states where they are leased. Some bring the tractor cab to their homes or storage lots in Michigan. Whatever the scenario, there is often a significant amount of confusion with regard to who is responsible for insurance coverage if the trucker is injured or killed in a truck accident on Michigan highways.

The safest way to ensure proper coverage for the independent contract truck driver is to simultaneously register the commercial truck in Michigan, especially if the owner-operator is the title owner. That’s because Michigan residents are required to have all of their owned vehicles registered in Michigan.

If the independent contractor is not a Michigan resident, but his semi-truck is in the state for a cumulative period of 30 days or more, he is also supposed to register the truck in Michigan. If a vehicle is registered in Michigan, it also must be covered by No-Fault insurance.

With that, the independent contractor should contact the temporary trucking company’s insurer, the bob tail insurer and any other relevant insurer to make sure the required Michigan insurance coverages are added to their policies. Otherwise, the truck driver could be denied important insurance no fault benefits and the right to sue for pain and suffering in the event of a serious truck accident.

If you’ve been in a truck accident in Michigan, call Michigan Auto Law at (800) 777-0028. Our truck lawyers can navigate through complicated No-Fault insurance and workers compensation insurance plans. We can identify the correct insurer, help you obtain all of the No-Fault benefits and insurance that’s available, and look for additional coverage, and excess and umbrella personal injury coverage for you.

- Steven Gursten is a partner of Michigan Auto Law and one of the top truck accident lawyers in the country. He is past president of the American Association for Justice Truck Accident Litigation Group, and has received the top-reported jury verdict in Michigan for truck accidents. Steve was named a Michigan Lawyers Weekly Leader in the Law for his work to promote national truck safety.

Related information:

“My truck accident lawyer found me more insurance after my girlfriend was killed in a truck crash”

Find a lawyer for your truck accident case

Things to know after a Michigan truck accident

Michigan Auto Law exclusively handles car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state of Michigan. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Sterling Heights, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Detroit to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our truck accident lawyers.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

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Why Detroit papers are falling for proposed elimination of Michigan’s No-Fault insurance law

This is a blog (or rant) I wrote in response to recent editorials by the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press promoting slashing No Fault benefits in exchange for vague promises of savings from the insurance industry. It goes beyond the fact that we’ve heard these promises before from the insurance industry - and the promised savings have never materialized (in fact, premiums have only gone up). It also goes beyond the fact that both Detroit newspapers are currently tilting “conservative” and leaning Republican in their latest reincarnations.

These editorials are about the pending Senate bills that would dismantle No-Fault insurance benefits for car accident victims, in exchange for supposedly saving drivers money with their insurance premiums. Before Michigan’s No-Fault insurance system, which the Insurance Institute of Michigan has actually called the “best auto insurance coverage in the country,” gets turned on its head, a lot more needs to be known about the proposed changes and whether they’re  worth considering.

By saying they’re making Michigan auto insurance rates more affordable, the Michigan auto insurance industry, through its advocates in the Legislature, has chosen to demonize the crown jewel of Michigan’s No-Fault system: unlimited, lifetime medical benefits for seriously or catastrophically injured auto accident victims.

Our auto insurance industry is playing a “smoke and mirrors” game with people of Michigan, trying to convince them the reason they’re paying so much for auto insurance is because of the medical benefits guarantee in the No-Fault law, which the same auto insurance industry lobbied, badgered and bullied the Michigan Legislature into passing more than 30 years ago.

The real reason Michigan drivers pay so much for auto insurance is because insurance companies force them to do so. No one is asking why Michigan’s insurance companies enjoy the highest profitability margins in the nation. If Michigan auto insurance rates are unacceptably high, that’s because auto insurance companies choose for them to be high. These companies – and the companies alone – determine the premium price they’re going to charge auto insurance customers.

If Michigan had an insurance commissioner who had the power to regulate the amount of profits insurance companies can make for selling a product that our law requires drivers to purchase, these rates would significantly drop.  I don’t hear the insurance company lobbyists, or the Republicans they contribute so much money to in the Michigan Legislature, asking for expanded power for the Michigan insurance commissioner to regulate insurance company profits in this state.

So before the Michigan auto insurance industry gets away with gutting “the best auto insurance coverage in the country,” we need to know:

•    More about why the insurance industry is charging Michigan drivers so much for auto insurance,
•    Whether the proposed “gutting” of No-Fault benefits has any chance of actually saving Michigan drivers money,
•    Or whether this is all about slashing expenses and boosting profits for Michigan’s deep-pocketed insurance industry.

I propose that before anything more is done on their bills to dismantle Michigan’s No-Fault system, our auto insurance industry should provide answers to the following questions:

1. Are you willing to settle for less profits in order to make auto insurance more affordable for everyone? If so, how much less?

2. To keep Michigan auto insurance affordable for everyone and to protect Michigan drivers from ever-increasing insurance rates, are you willing to have your prices regulated by the insurance commissioner or capped (just as you are urging the Legislature to cap the fees that doctors can charge when treating Michigan auto accident victims)?

3. You insist that the cost of the average paid claim for No-Fault benefits (also called personal injury protection benefits (PIP) benefits) was $36,425 in 2010. But how many paid PIP claims were there in 2010? And how does the cost associated with those paid claims compare with the revenues from PIP premiums written and collected during 2010?

4. If the average paid claim for personal injury protection benefits is $36,425, then in how many years will it exceed the minimum PIP Choice limit of $50,000? (If your calculations are correct that the cost of the average paid PIP claim has tripled since 2000, then we can expect the average paid PIP claim to hit nearly $110,000 by 2020, right?)

5. Are you willing to guarantee in writing (perhaps as amendments to bills currently pending in the Michigan Senate) exactly how much Michigan drivers will save should your proposed No-Fault choice policy limits become law?

6. Even if Michigan drivers saved 10 percent to 30 percent on their auto insurance rates as a result of your proposed No-Fault changes, wouldn’t they still be paying some of the highest rates in the country? For instance, based on the figures released by Insure.com, a 10 percent savings would put Michigan just behind Louisiana with the country’s second highest rate. And a savings of 30 percent would put Michigan just after Connecticut with the country’s 12th highest rate.

7. If the goal is savings for drivers, why the huge recent bonuses to insurance company execs?

8. How will any of these proposals make any meaningful difference when vehicle damage is currently over 50 percent - and some say closer to 60 percent - of insurance payouts in this state?  Wouldn’t this be a better place to make meaningful changes before taking away critical protections for victims of traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury?

Once Michigan’s auto insurance industry provides answers to those questions, everyone will have the information we all need to have a meaningful discussion about the cause of Michigan’s high auto insurance prices and whether gutting “the best auto insurance coverage in the country” is really the best way to bring those prices down.

- Steven Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s top insurance attorneys handling serious auto accident lawsuits. He writes about insurance company abuse and the Michigan No-Fault laws, and is available for comment.

Related information:

Show us the money from proposed changes to our No-Fault law

Three potential cases for Michigan auto accidents

Insurance attorney videos: No-Fault benefits and advice

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our No-Fault insurance attorneys.

Michigan Auto Lawyers

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Former Wenatchee City Councilman, cited in 4-car accident, didn't have insurance

The Wenatchee World reports that Steve May, a former Wenatchee City Council member, was at fault in Saturday morning's 4-car accident. It was surprising to learn that May was an uninsured motorist.

May was issued two citations: following too closely and driving without insurance. Police are also awaiting the results of blood toxicology reports.

Thankfully, no one was seriously injured in this accident. However, it is quite surprising that someone so civic minded as to serve on a City Council would fail to obtain car insurance.

If you are involved in a automobile injury accident in Seattle or throughout King County, the odds are that almost one in five drivers are uninsured even though Washington State law requires that all drivers have insurance.

As a Bellevue personal injury attorney, I recommend to all of my clients to always purchase uninsured motorist coverage on their policy. Make sure to have your uninsured motorist limits equal to your liability limits so you are protected if you are involved in an uninsured motorist accident.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

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Michigan insurance lawyer tip – excess replacement services are allowable expenses

Warning  - legalese alert.  This blog is written more for my Michigan auto accident lawyer and insurance claims adjuster readers. But it addresses an extremely important issue that impacts every economic claim made in every auto accident trial that lawyers in Michigan are making today.

Every auto accident case I’ve ever tried that has had an economic claim also had an excess replacement services claim. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, we tell our clients that replacement services are help with services you would have normally performed if you were not injured in an auto accident.

Replacement services claims here have two different, but interrelated meanings. There is the No-fault insurance claim made with your own auto insurance company for replacement services. They are paid at $20 per day, and limited to three years under the Michigan No Fault Act.

Then there is the excess replacement services claim. The excess replacement services claim arises after the first three years of No-Fault, if the auto accident victim is still disabled due to his or her injuries and can’t perform these services. This can also be an excess claim, over and above the $20 per day that the insurance company must pay in replacement services during the first three years.

That’s because the $20 per day for replacement services was set by statute in 1973, but was never indexed to inflation

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What insurance is a biker required to have on a motorcycle?

With all of this talk about Michigan’s motorcycle helmet law possibly being repealed, our motorcycle accident lawyers thought it would be a good time  to review the  personal injury protection (PIP) insurance for motorcyclists.

We usually tell our clients that the only insurance required for a motorcyclist in Michigan is basic liability coverage for a pain and suffering (third-party) personal injury suit. The coverage must be at least the minimum liability set by law, according to the Michigan No-Fault law.

A motorcycle owner can still purchase additional, optional contractual insurances, such as PIP coverage (also referred to as No-Fault insurance), which includes medical benefits and wage loss.  Very few bikers purchase PIP because it’s expensive. My own feeling is that if you are riding a motorcycle - especially without a helmet once the motorcycle helmet law is repealed - then you should be purchasing PIP coverage on a motorcycle. The incidence of traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury is much higher with bikers, and you don’t want your treatment for a catastrophic personal injury to be dependent on Medicaid options.  With Motorcycle PIP, you can treat anywhere, with any specialist, and receive the best treatment in America.

A motorcycle owner can also purchase other insurance, such as uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage (UM) and underinsured motorist coverage (UIM) provide a valuable source of legal recovery when someone is injured in an auto accident by another driver who is uninsured or does not have adequate insurance.

The Michigan motorcycle insurance law

A motorcycle is not considered a motor vehicle in Michigan, according to the No-Fault law. MCL 500.3101(2)(e) requires that a vehicle have more than two wheels to be considered a motor vehicle. This  was meant to exclude motorcycles, making bikers involved in crashes exempt from the legal requirement to purchase No-Fault PIP insurance coverage.

But motorcycle accidents often involve other cars and trucks on the road. As such, Michigan No-Fault insurance benefits will generally be available to Michigan motorcycle accident victims.

Michigan law only allows one year to file a (first-party) claim for No-Fault benefits after a motorcycle accident. Michigan law allows three years to file a (third-party) claim for pain and suffering and excess economic loss against a negligent driver who causes a motorcycle accident.  Michigan has a very strict and unforgiving statute of limitations.  If you have questions, ask an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer as soon as possible.  If you submit a bill past the statute of limitations, you will be personally responsible for it.

We can help you and your family members better understand motorcycle insurance laws and what happens after someone has been seriously injured in a crash. To speak with an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer, call Michigan Auto Law at (800) 777-0028. There’s no cost or obligation.

- Steven M. Gursten heads Michigan Auto Law and is recognized as one of the nation’s top motorcycle lawyers. He received the highest motorcycle accident settlement in Michigan last year, according to Michigan Lawyers Weekly. Steve has spoken at trial seminars on motorcycle lawsuits, and is available for comment.

Related information:

Michigan No-Fault insurance for motorcycle accidents

Motorcycle accident law FAQs

What happens when a biker causes a motorcycle accident in Michigan?

Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with one of our motorcycle accident lawyers.

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