Truck 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 PIP notice requirement under MCL 500.3145 imposes a one-year filing deadline for first-party no-fault medical benefits — and in a truck crash where the at-fault vehicle's PIP is the rider's or occupant's primary medical coverage, missing the one-year PIP notice cuts off medical expense recovery permanently. For highway road-defect claims under Michigan's Governmental Tort Liability Act (MCL 691.1402), the notice window is 120 days from the crash — the most urgent deadline in the entire case. An attorney retained within days of the crash handles all three timelines: 120-day government notice, one-year PIP notice, and three-year tort SOL — simultaneously, not sequentially.

Michigan's commercial vehicle weight permit system under MCL 257.722 is unusually granular: axle loads are tiered by axle spacing (18,000 lbs at 9+ ft spacing, 13,000 lbs at 3.5-9 ft, 9,000 lbs at under 3.5 ft), and the state permits carriers to exceed federal interstate gross weight limits (80,000 lbs) through a Michigan overweight permit system on designated roads. A carrier operating on a Michigan route without the correct overweight permit — or exceeding the permit's approved axle configuration — is in violation of both MCL 257.722 and the federal regulations incorporated by MCL 480.11a. Overweight violations identified in the crash investigation or pre-crash weigh station records are direct evidence of safety regulation violations. Michigan State Police inspection data is available through SAFER and through Freedom of Information Act requests to MSP Motor Carrier Division.

Michigan's 2019 PA 21 no-fault reform changed how medical expense recovery works in truck accident cases. Truck crash victims who are Michigan automobile no-fault insureds access PIP benefits first from their own policy; victims who are uninsured or whose vehicle was insured with a $50,000 Medicaid-only PIP election may find their first-party medical coverage inadequate for catastrophic injuries within weeks. After PIP exhaustion, the tort claim against the truck driver and carrier for economic damages (remaining medical expenses, lost wages beyond wage-loss PIP) requires meeting the MCL 500.3135 serious impairment threshold and proceeds against the carrier's federal minimum $750,000 policy under 49 CFR § 387.9. For catastrophic injuries exceeding $750,000, a Michigan attorney pursues broker liability, shipper liability, and any umbrella or excess commercial policy.

Government road-defect claims under Michigan's GTLA require 120-day written notice to the appropriate agency under MCL 691.1404 — the most compressed government claim notice window in Michigan litigation. Highway defect claims against MDOT for conditions on I-75, I-94, I-96, and the Ambassador Bridge approaches require both timely notice and proof that: (1) the highway was not in a reasonably safe condition for public travel; (2) the government had prior knowledge of the defect; and (3) the statutory notice was filed within 120 days. Missing the 120-day notice bars the highway-defect claim against the government defendant permanently, regardless of how clear the road condition evidence is. An attorney identifies potential government road-defect exposure and files the MCL 691.1404 notice within the first days after the crash.