Michigan No-Fault Attorney

Michigan No-Fault Attorney: When Your Insurance Company Becomes Your Adversary

If you've been hurt in a Michigan auto accident, the company you'll end up fighting hardest isn't the at-fault driver's insurer. It's your own. Michigan's no-fault system makes your insurance company the first source of medical bills, wage loss, attendant care, and replacement services — and your insurer has every financial incentive to pay you less than what the statute actually requires. A Michigan no-fault attorney exists to make sure that calculation doesn't work in their favor.

I'm Ali Koussan. At Koussan Law I've spent years building no-fault cases against every major Michigan auto carrier. The patterns are predictable: deny first, demand an IME, cut off benefits, slow-walk reimbursement, dispute attendant care rates. The carriers do this because most people don't have an attorney who knows the statute well enough to push back. This page is the practical map of when you need a no-fault attorney, what we actually do, and what Michigan law (MCL § 500.3101 et seq.) requires the insurer to do.

When You Need a Michigan No-Fault Attorney

You don't need an attorney to file a PIP claim. You need one when:

• Your benefits get cut off after an IME. Under MCL § 500.3157, the insurer can require you to attend an Independent Medical Examination. The "independent" examiner is a doctor the carrier pays — frequently the same one, across hundreds of files. The IME report almost always concludes you've reached maximum medical improvement. The day after the report lands, your benefits stop. This is the single most common no-fault denial pattern in Michigan.
• The carrier disputes attendant care. Family-provided attendant care is reimbursable under MCL § 500.3107 — but carriers routinely deny family rates, dispute hours, or demand impossible documentation. The legal standard is clear; the practical fight is not.
• Treatment is denied as "not reasonably necessary." Under MCL § 500.3107(1)(a), allowable expenses are anything reasonably necessary for the injured person's care, recovery, or rehabilitation. The statute is broad. Carrier interpretations are narrow. The dispute is litigated.
• Your one-year deadline is approaching. Under MCL § 500.3145, you have one year from each individual expense (not one year from the accident) to claim PIP. Carriers wait this clock out on bills they intend to deny.
• Your injuries cross the threshold and a third-party tort claim is on the table. Under MCL § 500.3135, you can sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering only if your injuries meet the serious-impairment-of-body-function standard. The threshold analysis is the case.
• Multiple insurers are fighting over priority. The priority order in MCL § 500.3114 and § 500.3115 generates more litigation than almost any other no-fault provision. Getting this wrong at the start delays benefits for months.
• You chose a lower PIP tier and your bills exceed your limit. The 2019 reform allowed coverage as low as $50,000 lifetime. A serious accident exhausts that in weeks. There are sometimes other coverage sources — but identifying them takes attorney analysis.

What a Michigan No-Fault Attorney Actually Does

The work is procedural, evidentiary, and aggressive. In a typical PIP file we are doing some combination of:

• Filing the initial PIP application with the correct priority insurer — wrong choice creates months of delay under MCL § 500.3114.
• Tracking and timely-submitting every expense under the rolling one-year deadline of MCL § 500.3145.
• Deposing the IME doctor when an IME-based denial lands — the examiner's track record (how many times they've testified for the same carrier, how many times they've ever found "reasonable necessity") usually destroys the IME on cross.
• Filing suit under MCL § 500.3148 when benefits are overdue. The statute imposes 12% penalty interest plus attorney fees if the insurer's delay is unreasonable. This converts a profitable delay into an expensive one.
• Coordinating with health insurance when PIP coverage is exhausted or capped, including the priority rules where group health insurance was elected as primary under the 2019 reform.
• Building the third-party tort case in parallel when the serious-impairment threshold is met — medical record assembly, treating physician depositions, vocational economists for lost earning capacity, life-care planners for catastrophic injuries.
• Negotiating directly with adjusters who recognize you've prepared the case to try. Carriers settle higher when they believe you'll go to trial. Firms that don't try cases get the discounts. Firms that do, don't.

The Michigan No-Fault Framework: What You're Actually Working Inside

A no-fault attorney's value comes from understanding which statute controls each fight. The framework:

1. PIP benefits (MCL § 500.3107) — your insurer pays your medical, wage loss (85% of gross up to a monthly cap for three years), replacement services ($20/day for three years), and survivor's loss benefits regardless of fault.
2. Coverage tiers (MCL § 500.3107c) — since the 2019 reform, drivers elect unlimited, $500K, $250K, $50K (Medicaid-only), or opt-out (qualifying Medicare only). Your selection determines your exposure ceiling.
3. Priority of insurers (MCL § 500.3114, § 500.3115) — own auto policy → resident-relative's policy → owner/operator's policy → Michigan Assigned Claims Plan. Different rules for motorcyclists, passengers, pedestrians, out-of-state visitors.
4. One-year deadline (MCL § 500.3145) — rolling, per individual expense. Not per accident.
5. Threshold for third-party tort (MCL § 500.3135) — death, permanent serious disfigurement, or serious impairment of body function. Pain and suffering against the at-fault driver requires clearing this bar.
6. Three-year deadline for third-party tort (MCL § 600.5805) — government-entity defendants need an additional 120-day notice under MCL § 691.1404.
7. Mini-tort vehicle damage (MCL § 500.3135(3)(d)) — up to $3,000 from the at-fault driver in excess of collision coverage, when the other driver was more than 50% at fault. One-year deadline.
8. Comparative fault (MCL § 500.3135(2)) — your damages reduced by your percentage. More than 50% fault bars non-economic damages.
9. Penalty interest (MCL § 500.3148) — 12% per year on overdue benefits plus reasonable attorney fees if denial is unreasonable. The lever that makes carriers move.

Why the 2019 Reform Made a Michigan No-Fault Attorney More Important, Not Less

Before July 2020, every Michigan driver had unlimited lifetime PIP medical coverage. PA 21 of 2019 (codified at MCL § 500.3107c) created the tiered system most drivers now live under. The reform also added the medical fee schedule that capped what auto insurers pay for medical services — which in turn made many providers refuse no-fault patients or limit their volume sharply. The legal complexity went up. The practical access to care for catastrophic injuries went down. Both increased the need for attorney involvement.

Common post-reform problems we work through: clients who chose the $50,000 tier without understanding the exposure, clients whose providers won't accept no-fault patients at the fee-schedule rate, coordinating gaps between PIP and health insurance, and disputes over which tier of coverage actually applies under household-priority rules.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I really need a no-fault attorney if my injuries are mild? The honest answer is no — if PIP benefits flow without dispute and your injuries resolve fully within the PIP coverage cap, you can handle the claim yourself. The moment any of the following happens, get counsel: an IME is scheduled, benefits are delayed past 30 days, attendant care is denied, treatment is cut off, your bills approach your coverage tier, or you start considering whether the at-fault driver should be sued. The 12% penalty interest under MCL § 500.3148 typically pays for attorney involvement on disputed claims.

Q: What does a Michigan no-fault attorney cost? Contingency fee. Standard is one-third of the recovery (33.3%) for cases settled pre-trial, sometimes 40% if the case goes to trial. Costs (filing fees, expert fees, deposition transcripts, medical records) are reimbursed from the recovery. Always confirm the fee structure in writing before signing. You pay nothing unless we recover.

Q: How long does a Michigan PIP dispute take? If benefits are flowing and we're just handling administrative submissions, weeks. If the carrier has cut off benefits and we're suing under MCL § 500.3148, typically 12 to 24 months. If the case involves a contested third-party tort claim under MCL § 500.3135, 12 to 36 months. Catastrophic cases involving disputed liability and expert-heavy damages take longer.

Q: Can I sue my own insurance company for bad faith? Michigan does not recognize a separate first-party bad-faith tort the way some other states do. The remedy for unreasonable PIP denial is the statutory penalty interest plus attorney fees under MCL § 500.3148. In practice this is often a more effective lever than a bad-faith cause of action would be, because the carrier's exposure scales directly with the delay.

Q: What if the at-fault driver had no insurance? Your own PIP benefits still pay regardless of fault. For pain and suffering, you fall back on uninsured motorist (UM) coverage if you carry it, which most Michigan policies include. The threshold under MCL § 500.3135 still has to be met. We litigate UM claims against the policyholder's own carrier under the same framework.

Q: I was a passenger, not the driver. Does this still apply? Yes. Under MCL § 500.3114, your PIP comes from (in order): your own auto policy, a resident-relative's auto policy, the vehicle owner's policy, the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan. Pedestrians and bicyclists struck by a motor vehicle are also covered, with priority rules that are different again. Out-of-state visitors have their own framework. This is one of the most procedurally complex areas of Michigan insurance law — getting it right at the start matters.

Q: How much PIP coverage should I have? If you can afford the premium, unlimited. The annual savings on lower tiers ($300-$1,200 in most cases) are rarely worth the catastrophic-injury exposure. If you must choose lower, $500,000 is the practical minimum for most working adults. Avoid the $50,000 Medicaid tier unless your health insurance unambiguously covers auto-injury claims, which most plans exclude. We've represented clients who saved $40 a month on premiums and ended up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in uncovered bills.

Speak With a Michigan No-Fault Attorney

If your PIP benefits have been denied, delayed, or cut off — or if you've been hurt in a Michigan auto accident and want a candid assessment of how the system actually treats your case — contact Koussan Law for a free consultation. We accept Michigan no-fault and auto accident cases on contingency. You pay nothing unless we recover. We have offices in Detroit, Dearborn Heights, and Marquette, and we accept cases statewide. Call (313) 800-0000, request a consultation online, or use our free case calculator to estimate your claim.

Related Resources

• Michigan No-Fault & PIP Claims — the specific PIP-benefits practice page
• Automotive Accidents — third-party tort framework
• Michigan No-Fault Insurance Explained: The Complete 2026 Guide
• How Much Is My Michigan Personal Injury Case Worth?
• Michigan Mini Tort Claim Guide
• Can I File a Lawsuit If the Accident Was Partially My Fault?