Motorcycle Accident Lawyer in Michigan

Michigan's three-year personal injury statute of limitations under MCL 600.5805(2) runs from the date of the crash. But the operative deadline that actually threatens a motorcycle claim is the PIP notice requirement under MCL 500.3145 — written notice must be given to the PIP insurer within one year of the crash, or PIP benefits are barred. Because motorcyclists access PIP from the at-fault vehicle's insurer (MCL 500.3114(5)) rather than their own policy, identifying the correct insurer and filing timely PIP notice is a threshold task. If the at-fault vehicle was uninsured, the claim goes to the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan, which has its own notice requirements. An attorney retained in the days after the crash handles PIP notice, insurer identification, and begins building the MCL 500.3135 serious impairment case simultaneously.

Michigan's conditional helmet law under MCL 257.658(5) allows riders 21 and older to legally operate without a helmet if they have held a motorcycle endorsement for at least two years OR have completed an approved safety course, AND carry at least $20,000 in first-party medical benefits. When a legally helmet-free rider suffers a traumatic brain injury or skull fracture, the defense argues that the failure to wear a helmet constitutes comparative negligence under MCL 600.2959 that reduces or eliminates noneconomic damages. MCL 600.2959 bars noneconomic damage recovery entirely when the plaintiff is more than 50% at fault. Defense biomechanical experts will model whether a helmet would have prevented or reduced the head injury. Plaintiff counsel must retain a counter-expert who attacks the specific causation link between helmet absence and the actual injury mechanism — because legality of helmet-free riding is not the same as causation of head injury.

Michigan's 2019 PA 21 no-fault reform created tiered PIP elections — $50,000 (Medicaid recipients only), $250,000, $500,000, or unlimited medical coverage under MCL 500.3107c. For motorcyclists, the relevant question is what tier the at-fault vehicle's owner elected, since the motorcycle rider looks to that policy for PIP medical benefits. A driver who elected $50,000 PIP and caused catastrophic motorcycle injuries may exhaust their coverage within weeks of hospitalization. After PIP is exhausted, the tort recovery for medical expenses and lost wages against the at-fault driver is governed by the MCL 500.3135 serious impairment threshold. Death in a motorcycle accident automatically satisfies the threshold (MCL 500.3135(1)(b)). For non-fatal injuries, the rider's attorney documents impact on daily living activities — work, household tasks, recreational activities — to meet McCormick v. Carrier's "general ability to lead normal life" test.

Michigan's Governmental Tort Liability Act (GTLA) under MCL 691.1401 et seq. provides partial immunity to government entities for road-condition claims, with specific exceptions for highway defects (MCL 691.1402) when: (1) the highway was in a condition that was reasonably safe for public travel; (2) the government had prior knowledge of the defect; and (3) the claimant gave the appropriate agency 120 days' written notice of the claim under MCL 691.1404. The 120-day notice requirement runs from the date of the injury — it is not extended by the three-year SOL — and failure to comply within 120 days bars the highway-defect claim entirely. Michigan's winter road conditions, frost heave damage in spring, and cracked asphalt on I-96 and US-23 corridors generate substantial motorcycle road-hazard claims. An attorney identifies the responsible government agency within the first days after the crash and drafts the 120-day notice while collecting road-condition evidence.