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The laws that govern Michigan automobile accidents are long and complex. Often, the terms used by car accident insurance agents and lawyers are confusing. Two important terms you should know:
- First-Party Benefits
- Third-Party Benefits
Michigan is a No-Fault State. This means that your own Michigan car accident insurance company pays most of the economic losses you suffer in an automobile accident, regardless of who was at fault. These economic benefits are called First-Party Benefits.
Third-Party Benefits usually cover non-economic losses, including damages for pain and suffering. Both of these types of benefits are described in detail below.
Michigan First-Party Basics
The Michigan law defining First-Party Benefits states: First-party benefits are payable to anyone who suffers an injury arising out of the ownership, operation, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle as a motor vehicle.
The following analysis looks at:
- Who has to pay your Michigan No-Fault Benefits?
- What are the specific benefits you may be entitled to receive after a Michigan auto accident?
Michigan First-Party Order of Priority
Although your own insurance is first in line to pay in a Michigan automobile accident, there are times when an uninsured individual is an innocent passenger in a motor vehicle. In these circumstances, determining who is responsible to pay Michigan No-Fault Benefits can be complex.
Driver or Passenger Order of Priority
- 1st priority is your own insurance policy, if none then...
- 2nd priority is to the insurance company of a resident relative (i.e. spouse, parent, or sibling), if none then...
- 3rd priority is to the insurer of the owner of the vehicle occupied, if none then...
- 4th priority is to the insurer of the driver of the vehicle occupied, if none then...
- 5th priority is to the State of Michigan Assigned Claims Facility.
Pedestrian Order of Priority
- 1st priority is to your own insurance, if none then...
- 2nd priority is to the insurance company of a resident relative (i.e. spouse, parent, or sibling), if none then...
- 3rd priority is to the insurer of the owner of the motor vehicle involved in the accident, if none then...
- 4th priority is to the insurer of the driver of the motor vehicle involved in the accident, if none then...
- 5th priority is to the State of Michigan Assigned Claims Facility.
Motorcycle Order of Priority
A different order for receiving benefits exists if you were on a motorcycle when the accident happened, because motorcycles are not considered "motor vehicles" under Michigan law. In a motorcycle/auto collision, the priority would be as follows:
- 1st priority is to the insurer of the owner of the motor vehicle involved in the accident, if none then...
- 2nd priority is to the insurer of the operator of the motor vehicle involved in the accident, if none then...
- 3rd priority is to the motor vehicle insurer of the operator of the motorcycle involved in the accident, if none then...
- 4th priority is to the motor vehicle insurer of the owner of the motorcycle involved in the accident, if none then...
- 5th priority is to the State of Michigan Assigned Claims Facility.
The Michigan Assigned Claims Facility
The Michigan Assigned Claims Facility is a State Agency with the power to assign an auto accident insurance company to provide benefits, if an injured victim cannot obtain benefits from other sources. Remember that uninsured drivers, operating vehicle they own, do not qualify for Michigan Assigned Claim Facility assistance. To apply for Assigned Claims Benefits, call the Michigan Assigned Claim Facility directly at 517-322-1875.
Specific Michigan First-Party Benefits
The First-Party No-Fault Benefits that you claim from your own insurance company include:
Medical Bills for Life
Michigan motor vehicle accident law requires that medical coverage continue for life, or for as long as you need treatment for injuries suffered in the accident.
There are many complicated factors to getting your medical bills paid, if you are in a Michigan motor vehicle accident. We recommend that you contact our office about your rights.
To qualify for medical expense reimbursement, a bill must be reasonable (in cost and necessity) and the bill must be actually incurred. Michigan law does not provide for guaranteed pre-payment of bills due to a motor vehicle accident. Sometimes, an auto accident insurance company will try to escape its responsibility, by questioning the need to a medical test or procedure, which your physician ordered, or by disputing the amount of the medical bill.
Insurance companies in Michigan provide two types of medical coverage in the event of an automobile accident:
- Uncoordinated benefits
- Coordinated benefits
Your insurance policy states which type of benefits you should receive. An uncoordinated policy pays benefits, regardless of the presence of other health insurance. A coordinated policy requires your other health insurance to pay first, and your automobile insurance to pay amounts that your primary insurer does not cover.
It is common for a primary health insurance policy and a motor vehicle insurance policy to contain contradictory language about which one has the first obligation to pay medical bills. Meanwhile, the motor vehicle insurance company may escape its obligation to pay a bill, if it did not receive it within one year of the date that you got the medical treatment.
Wage Loss
Michigan No-Fault Law allows an injured individual to receive 85% of his or her lost wages, if a doctor found the victim disabled from work due to injuries suffered in a car accident. This benefit cannot exceed a period of 3 years. The wage loss benefit is set at 85%, rather than 100%, of lost earnings because the benefit is tax-free. The law also sets a monthly cap on the amount of lost wages that the insurance company must reimburse.
Attendant Care
Michigan auto accident law requires the no-fault insurance company to pay for attendant care (also known as nursing services) for an injured victim who needs supervision or assistance while recovering at home. Sometimes, a physician determines that a person with severe injury needs around-the-clock supervision. A caregiver who is a member of the victim's family is entitled to attendant care reimbursement. Although the law does not set a specific hourly rate for the caregiver, the reimbursement should reflect the type and complexity of the services that the injured person receives. Frequently, insurance companies unreasonably and unlawfully refuse to pay for adequate attendant care.
Replacement Services
This term refers to reimbursement for services that you would have performed on your own, if you were not injured in an accident. If you paid or promised to pay for household services, chores, errands, etc., which you usually accomplished on your own, then you may be entitled to reimbursement for these expenses. A physician needs to provide a written statement that you are unable to do these tasks on your own. In addition, your insurance company may require documentation of who performed which services. Michigan law states that an auto accident insurance company is obligated to reimburse up to $20 per day for replacement services and that these benefits last for up to three years.
Mileage Reimbursement
Often, proper medical treatment, tests, and physical therapy require an injured person to travel long distances. Michigan No-Fault Law provides for the reimbursement for mileage traveled to and from this medical care.
Third-Party Auto No-Fault Law Basics
Under Michigan auto law, while First-Party Benefits cover most economic losses, Third-Party Benefits provide damages for pain and suffering, scarring or disfigurement, death, and wage loss in excess of 3 years. In Michigan, a Third-Party legal claim is filed against the at-fault driver in the motor vehicle accident. With the exception of excess wage loss, the damages sought in a Third-Party case are non-economic in nature. To prevail in a claim against a careless driver for non-economic damages in Michigan, the injured auto accident victim must show that he or she suffered a "threshold injury." Michigan law defines this as:
- A serious impairment of an important body function, serious disfigurement or scarring, or death.
It is very common for insurance company adjusters to assert that an injury is not a "serious impairment of a body function." However, if you have an objectively documented injury to an important part of your body, and this affects your life, then you should talk with an experienced Michigan auto accident lawyer dedicated to helping Michigan auto injury victims.
Attorney Marya Sieminski joined the Law Offices of Sam Bernstein in 2003. She is admitted to practice law in Michigan state courts and in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated magna cum laude from Wayne State University Law School. Marya has worked as a trial lawyer for 10 years and exclusively represented victims in personal injury litigation and in workers compensation claims. She also was appointed by the Governor to serve on the State of Michigan Workers Compensation Qualifications Advisory Committee.
The Law Offices of Samuel I. Bernstein, our Michigan auto accident and personal injury law firm, has championed the cause of seriously injured Michigan auto accident victims for three generations.
