Get Answers To Your Michigan Truck Accident Questions From Kajy Law
Truck Accident Attorneys
What Should I Do After a Michigan Truck Accident?
Any accident in Michigan is a serious matter. However, Michigan truck accidents are especially critical, since there’s an increased potential for serious injuries as well as unique parties involved. Not only that, but specific legal steps must take place with Michigan truck accidents to receive compensation and to get medical bills paid.
The Michigan truck accident lawyers at Kajy Law want to make sure that anyone involved in a Michigan truck accident knows the correct steps to take for the best outcome possible. We understand what parties may be responsible, what laws are involved, and how insurance companies work.
Find out what to do if you’re injured in a Michigan truck accident.
What To Do At The Scene Of The Michigan Truck Accident
One of the first things to do is alert the police and wait at the scene of the Michigan truck accident until they arrive. The only reason to not wait at the scene is if your injuries are so severe that you require immediate medical attention, in which case you should call 911.
While you wait for the police, you may also see if others involved in the truck accident are injured and if they need help, but only if it’s safe to do so and if your injuries don’t prevent you.
Endeavor to obtain as much documentation as possible. That means getting as much information from the semi-truck driver as possible:
- Driver’s name and phone number
- Driver’s license information
- Insurance information
- Any information as to the truck owner, trucking company, or logistics company
You should also document the scene of the Michigan truck accident and what happened. Take photos of the scene, the truck and cars involved, and any injuries sustained by you or your passengers. If possible, get any eye-witness accounts of what happened and witness contact information.
Once the police officer arrives, answer their questions and share any important information that will help them accurately fill out their police report.
Seek Medical Attention After Your Michigan Truck Accident
Don’t wait to get the medical attention you need, even if you’re not sure who pays the bills from the trucking accident. As you are attended to by first responders, doctors, staff, and other medical professionals, make sure to mention to them any injuries you have suffered or symptoms of injuries. This will help you get all of your injuries cared for and provide evidence later for what injuries your body has sustained from the truck accident.
Note: even if you don’t feel pain, it’s still important to receive medical treatment. This is because you may have suffered injury and trauma to your body from the Michigan truck accident that you do not detect right away.
Chemicals like adrenaline may have been released from your body during or after the accident. This can mask symptoms and temporarily remove pain–even though you may still have been severely injured.
Waiting to be treated can also prevent your body from healing properly under the guidance of medical experts, thus making injuries more severe and possibly permanent.
So don’t wait for pain or symptoms before you receive medical treatment.
Your Auto Insurance Pays Truck Accident Medical Bills
Even though you may have been injured from a truck accident, your medical bills aren’t normally paid by the other driver’s insurance in Michigan. Instead, the law is designed so that your own auto insurance pays your medical bills from the truck accident.
This is because Michigan is classified as a no-fault state. In order to simplify the billing process from medical expenses related to car accidents, no-fault states like Michigan require the insurance company of the driver or passenger to cover their own injuries, rather than the other party’s insurance.
This allows car accident victims to receive immediate medical care by automatically requiring their own auto insurance policy to pay their medical bills, rather than waiting for insurance companies to decide who should pay before getting the medical treatment they need.
Specifically, it’s a driver or passengers’ Personal Injury Protection, or PIP, coverage of their Michigan auto insurance policy that pays their medical bills from an accident. PIP also pays up to 85% of any lost income and related expenses from the accident for up to three years.
That means your own auto insurance is supposed to provide payment for medical bills as well as compensation for financial losses from the truck accident, along with any necessary services you require due to injuries–including if you can no longer work after the accident.
There is also a safety net in Michigan for accident victims in need of PIP benefits but who don’t have their own auto insurance called the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan, or MACP.
For those who have medical bills and expenses that have exceeded any applicable PIP limits that the policy may have (or $250,000 for Michigan Assigned Claims Plan), Michigan law allows those expenses to be included in a third-party bodily injury claim assuming someone else was at fault for the truck accident.
Use A Michigan Truck Accident Lawyer To Apply for No-Fault Benefits
A truck accident victim in Michigan only has a limited amount of time to apply for their no-fault benefits from their own car insurance company–a max of one year from the date of the accident.
During the course of a Michigan truck accident victim’s treatment, however, they may find that their no-fault benefits are cut short or possibly even denied by insurance companies for various reasons. This common insurance tactic happens even though the victim still needs medical treatment.
Hiring a Michigan truck accident attorney who is fully versed in both how the trucking system works and with the Michigan legal system is essential to get the law on your side, the insurance companies to pay your bills, and to get the settlement you deserve from your injuries.
Why Team Up With Our Michigan Truck Accident Attorneys
Any accident can overwhelm an injured driver in Michigan. However, semi-truck accidents are often more severe and deadly according to Michigan traffic data statistics.
Not only are they often more serious, but trucking accidents are far more complicated than auto accidents. That means a legal team who specializes in Michigan semi-truck accidents often prove to be invaluable and even essential to truck accident victims.
Kajy Law’s Truck Accident Lawyers Know How To Win
Michigan truck accident victims can have complete confidence in the Truck Accident Team at Kajy Law. Here is what we’ll do to help get you the maximum compensation possible after your accident:
- We know how to collect all of the evidence–including the evidence that trucking companies may legally destroy that shows their drivers were breaking the law or had failed inspections.
- We can request information that is difficult for private individuals to collect, but is essential for a truck accident victim’s case. This may include a truck driver’s cell phone records, truck company documents, or even nearby business video surveillance that show what happened.
- We can identify all of the parties who may be held legally responsible for the semi-truck accident. These parties may include the truck driver, trucking company, cargo company/freight broker, mechanic, the truck owner, and more.
- We can offer more leverage against insurance companies.
Kajy Law has a team of lawyers, paralegals, and other professionals at the ready to help victims of trucking accidents in Michigan get all of their bills paid and maximize their settlement from their injuries.
Contact Our Accident Attorneys About Your Michigan Truck Accident
After everything that happened, you deserve legal help from Michigan truck accident attorneys with proven success. Our accident lawyers have helped Michigan residents like you receive over $40 million in settlements, showing that we know how to help you with your unique cases.
Get started today by scheduling a free consultation. Call 248-702-6641 or fill out our contact form.
CONTACT US FOR HELP TODAY!
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