Figuring out how much your case is worth is a critical aspect of any accident case, both for you and your attorney. It drives many decisions, including when to settle versus go to trial and how much money your attorney should spend on preparing your case. This article will teach you all the different issues your attorney is taking into consideration when coming up with your case’s value.

What Money (i.e. Damages) You Are Entitled To
There are three (3) different types of damages that are available to you in a personal injury case. They are: Special Damages, General Damages, and Punitive Damages. Special damages are those capable of being proven to an exact amount, usually with the help of bills and/or receipts. Special damages typically consist of medical bills, medications, and over-the-counter medical equipment like heating pads, bandages, etc. Special damages also include lost wages, lost vacation, lost sick leave, and travel expenses – traveling to/from your medical appointments. You are normally entitled to lost wages for the time missed from work or undergoing treatments even if your employer paid you sick leave at the time.

General damages are incapable of exact proof and are normally the “pain and suffering” you endured from the accident. This includes emotional damages such as stress, anxiety, and depression. It also includes lost social and family events, such as having to missed a loved one’s birthday or a high school graduation for example. Finally, general damages also include any permanent physical disability or disfigurement. There is no formula for determining these types of damages. Many attorneys and insurance companies will use a multiple of your special damages to come up with this number.

The third category of damages are punitive damages. Punitive damages are meant to punish the wrongdoer and are not available in every type of case. Punitive damages are extra damages that a jury awards on top of the other two types of damages. There are tremendous strategic advantages to pursuing these types of damages in your case. For example, attorneys are not normally allowed to show the jury a defendant’s other prior, bad acts. But if your attorney seeks punitive damages, your attorney should be able to get this evidence in. Your attorney should look for every possible reason to obtain punitive damages because it puts huge pressure on the defendant in both discovery and at trial.

Factors That Increase/Decrease Your Case’s Value

There are many, many factors that affect the value of your case and each case is different. You should always have a candid conversation with your attorney regarding what is affecting your case’s value both before you attempt pre-suit settlement negotiations and before going to trial. The following issues will affect the value of your case, but is not intended to be an all inclusive list:

Your Age. The younger or older you are, the better your case is. Children aged 1-12 generally have outstanding settlement results. So do people in their late 60’s and older because of the sympathy the elderly create from the jury. That leaves people ages 13-59. These individuals do not receive the same sympathy of both the very young and the elderly.

Type of Injury. Obviously the more severe your injuries, the more your case is going to be worth. Severe injuries also affect the general damages because the more severe injuries are usually assumed to have more severe general damages associated with them. Compare this with Minor Impact Soft Tissue cases.

Objective Signs of Injury. When a doctor examines you, there are subjective and objective findings. Subjective findings are those things that can’t be measured or reproduced on paper. Usually, they are the things you tell your doctor you are experiencing. Objective findings, on the other hand, are measurable. This includes such things as MRI’s, measuring range of motion, and lab reports. The more objective findings your case has that supports your case, the more valuable your case becomes because your injuries are not just you saying what they are, but are supportable by tests and measurements.

Your Attorney. This is probably the biggest factor in changing the value of your case THAT YOU CAN CONTROL. Think about it. All the other items in this list are set in stone. The facts are what they are. But your attorney is different. Insurance companies track which attorneys file lawsuits and which go for quick settlements. This changes the value of your case. Also, an aggressive plaintiff’s attorney will be constantly pushing the other side. This can add tremendous value to a case because you are putting pressure on the defense attorneys as well as their clients.

What Kind of Witness You Are. This is always a big factor in the defense valuing your case. In fact, one of the primary reasons for taking your deposition is to see what kind of witness you are going to make in front of a jury. That is why your deposition preparation is so critical. It will affect the value of your case.

What Kind of Witness Is The Other Driver. Juries tend to focus on emotional decisions and bad behavior. If the other driver or other defendants show bad behavior or bad decisions, the jury will respond. For example, was the other driver DUI, unremorseful, calling his girlfriend instead of calling for medical help? Did the trucking company rush investigators to the scene instead of calling for help, did they attempt to destroy evidence, did the apologize?

Other witnesses. The more unbiased witnesses you have in your favor, the stronger your case is. Your attorney wants, whenever possible, for your case to be more than your word against the other driver’s. Your attorney should also be looking for witnesses that can testify about your pain and suffering, but who are not family members who are biased in your favor.

Venue. This simply means the court/county where your case would be filed. As a general rule, metro counties are more favorable to plaintiffs than rural counties, which are more conservative. But, and as an example of how subtle all this is, if you make a very genuine, sympathetic witness for yourself, rural, conservative juries have been known to relate and award more money.

Percentage of Fault. In some cases a jury will divide up fault among you and the defendants. They can also apportion fault among multiple defendants.

Prior Injuries Also known as pre-existing conditions, these are injuries you sustained to the same body parts you are saying were hurt in your current accident. Defense attorneys will comb through your medical records looking for any injury to argue you were not hurt in this accident, but another one. The rub is that you are entitled to damages even if you suffer from previous injuries to the same area. What this factor does do is cause a jury to discount your injuries by a certain amount.

Property Damage. Your car should look like it supports what happens to you. In other words, almost no jury is going to award huge damages for a scratched bumper. But, if the car looks totaled, then there is visual evidence the jury can use to support its decision.

Doctors Comments. Your medical records will have notes the doctor made commenting on your condition and the statements you made to him/her. Juries listen to doctors. If you have a doctor writing in your medical chart that you are faking your injuries, then you have a problem. You can bet the other side will bring that doctor to court.

Time. The more patient and prepared you and your attorney are, the more you case will increase over time. Typically, you case will bump up in value at two different points. First, you will reach one value in pre-suit negotiations. Your case will then take a bump in value right before trial, when both sides try to settle the case right before trial. This is especially true if you and your attorney have performed extremely well during litigation.

OK, But What’s My Case Worth?

Some of you are now scratching your head and thinking there has to be some formula for putting a value on my case. Before I give you the rule-of-thumb, I must tell you there is no substitute for an experienced attorney evaluating your case and all its nuances.That being said, you case can usually value your case at somewhere between 1.5 and 4 times your Special damages. For example, if your total medical bills and lost wages were $15,000. Your case may have a value of between $22,500 and $60,000. I know. That is a very broad range. The factors above are what an attorney will evaluate to narrow that range. If you make a horrible witness, the other driver is a saint, and the case is going to be filed in a very conservative county, your case will be on the low end. If you make an incredible witness, the other driver was DUI and unremorseful and the lawsuit can be brought in a pro-plaintiff county, you are on the high side.

How Insurance Companies Value Your Case

The insurance adjusters for most insurance companies handle 100’s of claims. If it were not for their computer diaries on each case, they couldn’t keep the facts of each case straight. Because the insurance companies handle so much volume, they created computer software to determine your case’s value. The most notorious of these is Colossus. This computer system was developed by a consulting company called McKinsey & Co. Instead of humans evaluating your case, now more and more cases are taking this away from adjusters and forcing them to input data into Colossus. The factors the software uses in determining your case’s value are closely guarded secrets. What is known is that you attorney must do his/her best to provide the adjuster all the facts, including diagnostic codes, to the adjuster to help increase the Colossus valuation.Your best bet against Colossus is to retain a lawyer who will demonstrate you are willing to take your case to a jury. A computer can never know your pain and suffering. A jury will. Also, adjusters will sometimes override Colossus when faced with a lawsuit so they can evaluate your case “one more time” before incurring the time and expense of trial. Finally, there is evidence Colossus does factor in to its valuation your attorneys history of taking cases to trial versus just settling cases.

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There are so many great tax deductions available for small businesses and of course it’s hard to know them all when you first start a business. I know I missed many deductions on my first couple of tax returns.

Do some research when you are starting your pet business and make sure you keep records of all your business expenses in a file.

Many of your everyday expenses become tax deductible when you own a home business. Depending on the structure of your business these deductions can apply against your business and your personal income.

Some examples of deductions that I will be claiming this year include:

a) The Home-office deduction – you can claim a percentage of your home expenses if part of your home is used regularly as an office for business use. These expenses may include maintenance and repairs (that are not capital in nature), rent, mortgage interest, house or apartment insurance, power, heat, water, and property taxes.

b) Vehicle expenses for business purposes. If you use your car 50 percent for business purposes, 50 percent of your car mileage, maintenance and repairs, vehicle insurance, gas and oil, car washes, license and registration, and auto club can be claimed. You will need to keep a mileage log book to track and substantiate your business miles.

c) Office expenses such as internet access, office supplies, books, and association memberships.

d) Travel to and fees for pet industry expos and conferences. All you hotel room charges, meals, and taxi fares are deductions.

e) Phone charges – I use my cell phone exclusively for business so that the purchase price of the phone and the monthly charges are deductible.

f) Business coaching – take advantage of this deduction and invest in yourself by getting the help of a coach who can help you grow your business faster.

g) Fees for advertising your business in the yellow pages, in online directories, running print ads in magazines or newspapers, or sending postcards or direct mail.

h) Printing charges for producing copies of business forms and contracts as well as your business cards and fliers.

i) Business website design and monthly website hosting charges.

The purchase cost of large items such as computers, printers, and fax machines can be depreciated over several years so keep receipts in your tax file as well as your warranty files.

If you run your business as a sole proprietor or partnership the IRS allows a new business owner to claim business losses against their personal income for 3 years. Make sure that after 3 years you do show some profit as otherwise they may label your business a “hobby” and this means you may be liable for past claimed expenses.

A good book to give you some tips is Home Business Tax Deductions: Keep What You Earn

by Stephen Fishman and Diana Fitzpatrick which is available at Amazon.

I would also recommend talking upfront to your accountant about the best structure for your business to make sure you keep more of your money at tax time.

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Medical billing clearinghouses are simply middlemen that take electronic medical claims information and then submits that information electronically to insurance companies that they are contracted with.

So how does this impact you as a prospective billing business owner? Look at it this way:

Your client sends you a medical claim in superbill format, you input that information into your billing software, you print out that information on to a CMS1500 form, you mail that form out to the appropriate insurance carrier, the insurance company checks the claim for any errors, if everything is correct (called a clean claim) they submit payment to the physician for the services rendered and then you bill/invoice the physician for the services that you provided them. Now, how long do you think that process will take and what would be your expense? Well if you were to do this for each and every claim, for each and every client I can assure you that it would only take about a month and some weeks before you’d be out of business.

Medical billing clearinghouses were born out of the necessity to cut down on the amount of time it took for medical claims to be accepted and processed by insurance companies. Today the process is also saving the environment because less paper is being used to complete the reimbursement process.

However, you must make sure that you choose a medical billing clearinghouse that is contracted with several insurance carriers (called Payors) to ensure that your claims will be handled electronically from beginning to end. If you send a claim to a clearinghouse and the insurance company that the claims are going to does not accept or is not contracted to accept claims from the medical billing clearinghouse then the clearinghouse will have to print and mail the claim on your behalf (usually at an additional fee. This is called dropping the claim to paper).

One of the great things a clearinghouse does is perform error checks on each claim to make sure that all the appropriate boxes on a claim are filled in. While error-checking is a great feature especially for new billers it does not mean it will catch incorrect information that you may have input into a box. Once you submit all the claims for a particular day at the same time to the clearinghouse (called a batch transmission) and all the information is checked the clearinghouse will send you a confirmation (called a transmittal report) to verify the amount of claims sent as a receipt.

Home based billing is a business that provides physicians with several levels of services and medical billing clearinghouses do the same for the MB business owner. Be absolutely certain that you shop around for medical billing clearinghouses that best fits your needs and budget but DO NOT choose one strictly because of your budget. Take into consideration the level of customer service you will receive if you have problems, which you will!, because if you have to wait due to customer service issues on behalf of your clearinghouse you could be losing money, creditability, and clients.

Lastly, pay special attention to the startup and enrollment fees that you may have to pay for each practitioner or practice you will be submitting claims for because those charges take away from any profits that you as a MB business owner will make. There are medical billing clearinghouses in the marketplace that charge flat fees regardless of how many physicians you bill for now or in the future so proper research is the best way to keep your medical billing business expenses to a minimum.

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Filing auto accident insurance claims is quite tedious. But to get your compensation for the accident, it is a necessary procedure – so you might as well go about it in the fool-proof manner described here.

Tip 1: Inform the Insurance Company about the Accident Immediately

Your first priority after an accident is to ensure you and your co-passengers are okay, so a thorough medical check-up is necessary. After you are done with it, call up your insurance company and inform them about your accident. Now would also be a good time to go through your insurance policy and familiarize yourself with the exact terms of your auto accident insurance claim, if you are not familiar with it already.

Tip 2: Write a Detailed Auto Accident Insurance Claims Statement

Giving as much detail of the accident as possible and supporting your claim with pictures of the accident site, damaged vehicles, etc. is essential. In the claims statement, you must also include medical reports of all injuries that you have sustained in the accident, no matter how small the injury appears. If you add names and contact details of any witnesses to the accident, it adds more value to your claim. All this substantiates your auto insurance claim immensely.

Tip 3: Keep Track of all Events Pertaining to Your Claim

Whether it is a discussion you had with the police, your insurance agent, or a record of your medical expenses, anything that has got to do with your claim is supposed to be recorded in writing. If your claim is settled in court, these will be used as evidence. Do not try to rely only on your memory; file all bills, receipts, etc.

Tip 4: Check all Your Insurance Policies

If you have multiple insurance policies, each one may allow you to file an auto accident insurance claim. To ensure you claim all that you are entitled to, you have to know your policies’ details, as discussed above. Take time out to review all your policies periodically.

Tip 5: Be Honest

Honesty with your insurance company is always the best policy. Otherwise your auto accident claim could be disqualified on fraudulent grounds.

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Electronic billing is not that easy as you might think. But there is always a good training, practice and ways to efficiently maximize the use of electronic billing submission. There are many advantages why medical providers must submit claims by electronic. One is because the processing and reimbursement time is at least within 72 hours compared to a paper billing that may take up to 3 weeks. Electronic submission reduces errors and lost of claims by 98%. Transmission is fully encrypted and compliant with HIPAA rules and guidelines.

I would like to point out 10 Steps for Efficient Medical Electronic Billing Claims Submission:

Assuming you have the Medical Billing System in your office, next step is to sign up with a clearinghouse with a reasonable monthly flat fee regardless how many and how much claims you can submit and resubmit. Make sure you do not pay any other fees on top of the flat fee. The clearing house must be fully compliant with HIPAA. There are many available vendors out there. You can submit claims through web-based solution or through a modem directly you’re your computer. I will talk about this on the later part of this article.
Make sure you have all the list of payors’ number with the insurances you bill and participate with. This payor number will identify where your claims will go based on the patient’s insurance information. Your tax number should also be in your billing system
By entering your patient’s information. One information that you have to be careful is the patient’s insurance ID number. I strongly suggest to input the number as is without any other characters other than alphanumeric characters. In other words, avoid using an asterisk and dashes on this field.
Make sure you have obtained prior authorization or you have verified coverage for the patient for that date of service
Avoid using outdated ICD and CPT codes. Make sure your diagnosis codes (primary or secondary or tertiary) does not require a 5th digit.
Make sure you use proper modifiers. Nowadays, electronic billing systems are intelligent enough to pick up errors. Normally non-numeric modifiers are always in big letters
When you create the file, you have the option to preview all the claims. Before you submit this file electronically, make sure to check for missing information. Edit the claims for errors. Finally submit your file.
Generate reports after you submit the claims. Make sure all claims are said to be “accepted”. If you see reason code as “rejected”— immediately correct the claim, call the insurance and resubmit the claim. Always read all your electronic transmission receipts/reports!
Keep track of your claims. A medical billing software with a tracer tool is a very powerful system. As you can track your pending/waiting and unpaid claims. Persistent follow ups for previously denied and rejected claims is a must.
Last but not the least, generate a report to reconcile bills to appointments. This way you know which appointment dates was not billed and no superbills was generated.

If you want to eliminate all the above work plus the headache and aggravation for claims rejections, denied and underpayments, the best way is to outsource your billing needs to an experienced full service medical billing service company. This way, it also saves you all other administrative and manpower overhead expenses. Make sure you consider a company that specialize your area of specialty and who knows your business. Making this choice and the decision is very critical to your practice as this billing service becomes your backbone for revenues.

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When the amount of a claim against you exceeds the coverage provided by your home or auto insurance policy, you are saddled with the prospect of settling this excess liability on your own. Your insurance company will not cushion you against this contingency. However, there is a way out. To overcome this eventuality, you can obtain an excess liability policy, or an umbrella policy.

This policy will give you the required cushion against any claim exceeding the amount covered by your normal insurance policy. For example, suppose your auto insurance policy covers claims of accidental pedestrian injury up to an amount of $20000. If an accident does occur, and a claim of $50000 dollars is adjudicated against you, the insurance company will only pay the $20000 agreed upon, and you will have to pay the balance $30000 out of you personal funds. If you do not have the cash or any other liquid asset, then your home, or some other fixed assets could be at stake. You may even be reduced to a state of bankruptcy. This is where an umbrella policy can help you. An umbrella policy will take care of the excess amount of $30000 dollars that you would have had to pay from you own funds.

The umbrella policy expands the coverage offered by your home or auto policy. You can purchase this policy for coverage of up to five million dollars. Moreover, the premium is very low and you may have to pay just $300 to $400 a year for this coverage.

When the amount of a claim against you exceeds the coverage provided by your home or auto insurance policy, you are saddled with the prospect of settling this excess liability on your own. Your insurance company will not cushion you against this contingency. However, there is a way out. To overcome this eventuality, you can take an excess liability policy, or an umbrella policy.

This policy will give you the required cushion against any claim exceeding the amount covered by your normal insurance policy. For example, suppose your auto insurance policy covers claims of accidental pedestrian injury up to an amount of $20000. If an accident does occur, and a claim of $50000 dollars is adjudicated against you, the insurance company will only pay the $20000 agreed upon, and you will have to pay the balance $30000 out of you personal funds. If you do not have the cash or any other liquid asset, then your home, or some other fixed assets could be at stake. You may even be reduced to a state of bankruptcy. This is where an umbrella policy can help you. An umbrella policy will take care of the excess amount of $30000 dollars that you would have had to pay from you own funds.

Further, many companies will not offer you the umbrella policy unless you have your home or auto insured with them. They may also require you to maintain a certain level of liability on your home or auto insurance.

The umbrella policy does not only cover your cars and homes, but also offers personal injury protection which may include false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, defamation, invasion of privacy, wrongful entry or eviction. The terms may vary according to each company, and from one state to another.

The umbrella policy is an excellent way to protect yourself against expenses for claims exceeding the coverage provided by your regular insurance policy. It can be bought for a very low annual premium, and proves very helpful in protecting your personal assets from lawsuits and legal action.

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IRS Form 8829 is used to claim the allowable expenses that you can deduct for business use of your home on your federal tax return. From Form 8829, you calculate the deduction amount to be inserted on Schedule C (Form 1040). To deduct expenses related to the part of your home used for business, you must meet the following tests:

1. Your use of the business part of your home must be either:

Exclusive: You must use a specific area of your home only for your trade or business, and the area cannot be used for any other purpose. The area can be a room or other separately identifiable space. The space does not need to be marked off by a permanent partition.

Regular: You must use a specific area of your home for business on a continuing basis, not just occasional or incidental use; or

2. The business part of your home or a separate structure (not attached to your home) must be your principal place of business where you meet or deal with patients, clients, or customers in the normal course of your business. You must conduct the administrative or management activities of your business in your home exclusively and regularly, and you have no other fixed location where you conduct those activities

Deductions

You generally cannot deduct expenses that are allocable to tax-exempt income. To calculate deductions, you can use square feet or any other reasonable method to measure the area for the part of your home used for your business. Direct or indirect expenses for the business use of your home can be 100% deductions.

You can deduct the depreciation of the part of your home you use for business by using the cost or the fair market value of your home on the date you first used the home for business. You will need to attach a schedule showing the cost of additions and improvements placed in service after you began to use your home for business. Then you refer to the IRS chart in the instructions booklet for the use of Form 8829 to find the percentage to use to calculate the depreciation deduction.

If your expenses are greater than the current year’s limit, you can carry over the excess to the next tax year. For more information on deducting expenses for the business use of the home expenses, see IRS Pub. 587.

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Handling a motor vehicle accident settlement yourself is a simple and straightforward process. Most claims require no specialized expertise, even the injury causing motor vehicle accidents can be settled without the victim incurring the expense of hiring a lawyer. I should emphasize the point that when I mention settle your claim without paying an attorney I’m talking about a good and satisfactory settlement. Not one that favors the insurance company!

I should point out here that I am not an attorney or a claims adjuster. All of my knowledge with regards to motor vehicle accident settlements I acquired as the result of being the victim of an injury causing motor vehicle accident.

I was injured when a tractor trailer ran into stopped traffic. The BIG RIG was doing in excess of 40 MPH when it plowed into 4 vehicles that were stopped at a red light. 3 of the stopped vehicles were totaled. I was in one of the totaled vehicles. I went through the whole process of gathering information, presenting it to the at fault party’s insurance company, and negotiating a successful settlement for my self without an attorney.

What I learned from this experience added to my prior knowledge and affirmed the position I hold that based on my own experience most of my transactions with lawyers were not satisfactory to me. This is only my opinion but it is in fact my opinion.

Many folks are under the impression that because a person is a LAWYER and has obtained the education and passed the exams that the clients who pay the fees are assured the highest degree of service and performance.

I say that is not the case. In spite of all the jokes, LAWYERS are human just like the rest of us. If an attorney is part of a firm he/she have to answer to their boss and have to earn profit for the firm. If the LAWYER is on their own then they have even more responsibility to keep their own business in the black. We should ask ourselves where does our problem fit into the big picture of what’s going on with our attorney.

Once you sign an agreement with an attorney your in for the duration!

Also remember that a typical attorney fee for a motor vehicle accident if 30% – 40 %! After all they have to pay for all that advertising!

I found that after interviewing three attorneys form 3 different firms all claiming to be experts in motor vehicle accident settlements and getting information off the internet I was ready willing and able to settle my own claim.

One of the attorneys I interviewed tried to sell me on the idea that it was very expensive for his firm to obtain all the documentation to reach a fair settlement for me. What I found out was it was all available to me for the asking!

Your probably think to yourself “OK Mr. Big shot how well did you do?”

I’ll tell you this. I have a friend who was in the same type accident and had the same type injury. He took the advise of a doctor and had back surgery TWICE do to complications from the first surgery. He also took the advise of an attorney and signed a contract for representation. When it was all done and he paid all the fees he ended up with a mere $16000 more than me and I didn’t have any surgery!! Sixteen Thousand Dollars in settlement money is nothing!!

I did good didn’t I?

Can the average person settle a claim in a satisfactory manner? The answer is yes. The hardest part is collecting the documentation.

Copyright (C) 2007 John Steven Corbin

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The laws that govern Michigan automobile accidents are long and complex. Often, the terms used by car accident insurance agents and lawyers are confusing. Two important terms you should know:

First-Party Benefits
Third-Party Benefits

Michigan is a No-Fault State. This means that your own Michigan car accident insurance company pays most of the economic losses you suffer in an automobile accident, regardless of who was at fault. These economic benefits are called First-Party Benefits.

Third-Party Benefits usually cover non-economic losses, including damages for pain and suffering. Both of these types of benefits are described in detail below.

Michigan First-Party Basics

The Michigan law defining First-Party Benefits states: First-party benefits are payable to anyone who suffers an injury arising out of the ownership, operation, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle as a motor vehicle.

The following analysis looks at:

Who has to pay your Michigan No-Fault Benefits?
What are the specific benefits you may be entitled to receive after a Michigan auto accident?

Michigan First-Party Order of Priority

Although your own insurance is first in line to pay in a Michigan automobile accident, there are times when an uninsured individual is an innocent passenger in a motor vehicle. In these circumstances, determining who is responsible to pay Michigan No-Fault Benefits can be complex.

Driver or Passenger Order of Priority

1st priority is your own insurance policy, if none then…
2nd priority is to the insurance company of a resident relative (i.e. spouse, parent, or sibling), if none then…
3rd priority is to the insurer of the owner of the vehicle occupied, if none then…
4th priority is to the insurer of the driver of the vehicle occupied, if none then…
5th priority is to the State of Michigan Assigned Claims Facility.

Pedestrian Order of Priority

1st priority is to your own insurance, if none then…
2nd priority is to the insurance company of a resident relative (i.e. spouse, parent, or sibling), if none then…
3rd priority is to the insurer of the owner of the motor vehicle involved in the accident, if none then…
4th priority is to the insurer of the driver of the motor vehicle involved in the accident, if none then…
5th priority is to the State of Michigan Assigned Claims Facility.

Motorcycle Order of Priority

A different order for receiving benefits exists if you were on a motorcycle when the accident happened, because motorcycles are not considered “motor vehicles” under Michigan law. In a motorcycle/auto collision, the priority would be as follows:

1st priority is to the insurer of the owner of the motor vehicle involved in the accident, if none then…
2nd priority is to the insurer of the operator of the motor vehicle involved in the accident, if none then…
3rd priority is to the motor vehicle insurer of the operator of the motorcycle involved in the accident, if none then…
4th priority is to the motor vehicle insurer of the owner of the motorcycle involved in the accident, if none then…
5th priority is to the State of Michigan Assigned Claims Facility.

The Michigan Assigned Claims Facility

The Michigan Assigned Claims Facility is a State Agency with the power to assign an auto accident insurance company to provide benefits, if an injured victim cannot obtain benefits from other sources. Remember that uninsured drivers, operating vehicle they own, do not qualify for Michigan Assigned Claim Facility assistance. To apply for Assigned Claims Benefits, call the Michigan Assigned Claim Facility directly at 517-322-1875.

Specific Michigan First-Party Benefits

The First-Party No-Fault Benefits that you claim from your own insurance company include:

Medical Bills for Life

Michigan motor vehicle accident law requires that medical coverage continue for life, or for as long as you need treatment for injuries suffered in the accident.

There are many complicated factors to getting your medical bills paid, if you are in a Michigan motor vehicle accident. We recommend that you contact our office about your rights.

To qualify for medical expense reimbursement, a bill must be reasonable (in cost and necessity) and the bill must be actually incurred. Michigan law does not provide for guaranteed pre-payment of bills due to a motor vehicle accident. Sometimes, an auto accident insurance company will try to escape its responsibility, by questioning the need to a medical test or procedure, which your physician ordered, or by disputing the amount of the medical bill.

Insurance companies in Michigan provide two types of medical coverage in the event of an automobile accident:

Uncoordinated benefits
Coordinated benefits

Your insurance policy states which type of benefits you should receive. An uncoordinated policy pays benefits, regardless of the presence of other health insurance. A coordinated policy requires your other health insurance to pay first, and your automobile insurance to pay amounts that your primary insurer does not cover.

It is common for a primary health insurance policy and a motor vehicle insurance policy to contain contradictory language about which one has the first obligation to pay medical bills. Meanwhile, the motor vehicle insurance company may escape its obligation to pay a bill, if it did not receive it within one year of the date that you got the medical treatment.

Wage Loss

Michigan No-Fault Law allows an injured individual to receive 85% of his or her lost wages, if a doctor found the victim disabled from work due to injuries suffered in a car accident. This benefit cannot exceed a period of 3 years. The wage loss benefit is set at 85%, rather than 100%, of lost earnings because the benefit is tax-free. The law also sets a monthly cap on the amount of lost wages that the insurance company must reimburse.

Attendant Care

Michigan auto accident law requires the no-fault insurance company to pay for attendant care (also known as nursing services) for an injured victim who needs supervision or assistance while recovering at home. Sometimes, a physician determines that a person with severe injury needs around-the-clock supervision. A caregiver who is a member of the victim’s family is entitled to attendant care reimbursement. Although the law does not set a specific hourly rate for the caregiver, the reimbursement should reflect the type and complexity of the services that the injured person receives. Frequently, insurance companies unreasonably and unlawfully refuse to pay for adequate attendant care.

Replacement Services

This term refers to reimbursement for services that you would have performed on your own, if you were not injured in an accident. If you paid or promised to pay for household services, chores, errands, etc., which you usually accomplished on your own, then you may be entitled to reimbursement for these expenses. A physician needs to provide a written statement that you are unable to do these tasks on your own. In addition, your insurance company may require documentation of who performed which services. Michigan law states that an auto accident insurance company is obligated to reimburse up to $20 per day for replacement services and that these benefits last for up to three years.

Mileage Reimbursement

Often, proper medical treatment, tests, and physical therapy require an injured person to travel long distances. Michigan No-Fault Law provides for the reimbursement for mileage traveled to and from this medical care.

Third-Party Auto No-Fault Law Basics

Under Michigan auto law, while First-Party Benefits cover most economic losses, Third-Party Benefits provide damages for pain and suffering, scarring or disfigurement, death, and wage loss in excess of 3 years. In Michigan, a Third-Party legal claim is filed against the at-fault driver in the motor vehicle accident. With the exception of excess wage loss, the damages sought in a Third-Party case are non-economic in nature. To prevail in a claim against a careless driver for non-economic damages in Michigan, the injured auto accident victim must show that he or she suffered a “threshold injury.” Michigan law defines this as:

A serious impairment of an important body function, serious disfigurement or scarring, or death.

It is very common for insurance company adjusters to assert that an injury is not a “serious impairment of a body function.” However, if you have an objectively documented injury to an important part of your body, and this affects your life, then you should talk with an experienced Michigan auto accident lawyer dedicated to helping Michigan auto injury victims.

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A detailed deduction under one of the following categories: medical and dental expenses, taxes paid, interest, gifts and charity, casualty and theft losses, expenses and other deductions. Taxpayers are entitled to medical and dental expenses must itemize the deduction option and submit supporting evidence to justify the level of his desire to claim. The option to which it gives taxpayers may deduct a greater deduction. However, the deductionNo more than half of adjusted gross income of the taxpayer, but to qualify, however, claimed the full cost of 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income must exceed the taxpayer.

Qualified medical and dental expenses are deductible for you, your spouse and your dependents, including the people you claim as a dependent under a multiple support agreement, but the agreement allows only one of the persons involved, asking for the deduction. costs at the expense of a child who receivesMore than half of the support to be deducted, but you're not on a personal exemption for a child who is over the allowable amount of income generated.

Medical and dental expenses for self-employed net income for the fiscal year, or part of a partnership or a shareholder in an S-Corporation, can deduct as an adjustment to income, the total amount paid for medical insurance for you, spouse and dependents. This special tax regimeDeduction is not deductible for each month you are eligible to participate in any subsidized health plan from your employer or your employer's spouse.

Travel costs for your medical care are deductible if you are traveling to the office of a doctor or a medical facility for treatment. If your car, a flat rate per mile, plus the assessment of the actual cost of operating the machine, as are deductible, for example, gas, oil, repairs, parking and tolls used. Cab fares are incurred locally for your tripAmbulance costs from a trip to visit the city to see a specialist and the cost of transport to a different climate for health reasons are deductible.

Travel expenses for deduction shall be allowed physicians in the following circumstances: If a doctor prescribes, on a trip to visit a child in a facility when someone accompany an individual medical care, able to travel alone, and the cost of the journey as Congress doctors, in order to always have the latest information onTreatment of the chronically ill.

Special medical expenses are deductible depends on the services provided. The payments to all those who are not licensed, but as regards legal and legitimate purchases tax deductible medical care recommended by a doctor for you or your family's health benefits. Such purchases are required for the inclusion of vitamins and dietary supplements by a doctor to treat a certain disease to treat. expenses for what is considered a non-medical treatments such as massagesit must be shown as a legitimate medical deductions the taxpayer.

The total cost for a hospital or similar medical facility for meals and lodging can be deducted. You can also deduct the cost of accommodation, if you or your dependents medical "treatment away from home and the house is necessary in order to receive medical attention. The property must be moderate, with no element of personal pleasure, recreation or vacation. The amount must be limited to $ 100 for you andanother person.

Health insurance premiums paid for medical expenses, dental and hospital cover, including eyeglasses and prescription drugs are deductible if they are part of your adjusted gross income. This includes your premium for Medicare Part B and damages from the proceeds of insurance and Medicare will reduce medical costs. If a refund is equal to or greater medical expenses, your deduction will be reduced to zero.

One can say doctorsThe costs for themselves, spouses, relatives and anyone who wonders how an employee under an agreement of more support, which is restricted to a nursing home or home for years. The deduction covers the full cost of medical treatment, including meals and lodging. If the person resident in a nursing home for reasons other than those of medicine, both the costs deductible only the actual costs of the doctor. This also applies to nursing homes and assisted living. Any non-medical expenses are notDeductible.

The cost of medical expenses for the mentally or physically disabled members attending a special school designed to improve the specific needs of the person to be deductible. The deduction covers all costs of registration, transportation, meals and lodging. Schools that are qualified programs to read braille or lips, to teach, heal and help, dyslexia, treatment and care of the mentally handicapped and disabled people with similar needs.

Improvements to your home that aid into treat a disease by the equipment needed, the right to deduct. However, the deduction of the cost of the equipment or the improvement is limited, less the value of your home.

Deductible medical and dental expenses that have made all the expenses claimed and paid less, which will be reimbursed by insurance or any other body. The result is reduced by 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income.

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