Detroit Car Accident Lawyer
After a car crash in Detroit, Michigan’s no-fault system pays your medical bills and part of your lost wages, no matter who caused it, and you can also sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering when your injuries are serious. At White Law PLLC, we handle personal injury cases in Detroit and across all of Michigan.
Where And Why Do Detroit Car Accidents Happen?
Detroit’s combination of high-speed freeways and busy surface streets creates consistent crash risks. Heavy traffic on the Lodge Freeway, I-94, and I-75, along with congested routes like Gratiot and Woodward, leads to frequent collisions.
Many of these accidents can be traced to a few common causes:
- Distracted driving on phones
- Drunk or drugged drivers
- Running red lights and stop signs
- Speeding in poor weather
The cause of a crash plays a key role in how liability is determined, especially when distraction or impairment is involved. Evidence such as phone records, traffic camera footage, and the police report can help establish what happened before insurers or other parties shape the narrative.
Who Can Be Held Responsible?
Fault in a Detroit crash does not always rest with one driver. Depending on the facts, several people or companies may owe you money for the harm you suffered. Parties who can share liability include:
- The driver who hit you
- An employer whose worker caused the crash
- A bar that overserved a drunk driver
- A city responsible for a dangerous road
Adding the right defendants can mean reaching deeper insurance coverage when one policy falls short. Claims against a government body move under tighter rules, though, so a crash caused by a city vehicle or pothole carries much shorter notice deadlines that are easy to miss.
What Is Your Detroit Car Accident Worth?
Since your case depends on the severity of your injuries, lost income, and how the crash reshaped your daily life, there is no fixed formula. No-fault benefits cover your medical care and a share of your lost wages for up to three years, plus help with household services you can no longer handle.
A separate claim against the at-fault driver compensates for non-economic damages. These include pain, emotional distress, disfigurement, disability, and the losses that no-fault insurance claims leave out.
How Long Do You Have To Act?
Multiple deadlines run after a Detroit crash, and missing anyone of them can limit or eliminate your recovery. You generally have three years from the date of the accident to sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering and other damages.
For no-fault PIP benefits, the rules under Michigan Compiled Laws § 500.3145 are more layered. You must provide written notice of your injury to the appropriate no-fault insurer within one year of the accident. A separate limitation, known as the one-year-back rule, means that when you file a lawsuit for unpaid benefits, you can only recover expenses incurred within the year before you filed.
However, the 2019 no-fault reforms added a tolling provision: the one-year-back rule is paused from the date you submit a specific claim for benefits until the date the insurer formally denies it. This means that if you have submitted claims that have not been formally denied, your window to recover those benefits may be longer than a flat one-year cutoff suggests.
Because these deadlines interact in ways that depend on the specific facts of your claim, speaking with an attorney early helps ensure nothing is missed.
Bring Your Case To Our Detroit Car Accident Lawyer Team
White Law PLLC works on contingency, which removes the financial barrier to getting help, since you pay nothing unless we win. With decades of collective experience and more than $1.4 billion recovered for injury clients. Call (517) 316-1195, or reach our team online to schedule a consultation with our Detroit car accident lawyer.
