Frequently Asked Questions

In our experience, hiring a personal injury lawyer can dramatically improve your chances of getting adequate compensation for the costs of an injury.

Insurance companies don’t want to pay the full amount an injured person is owed, so they often deny claims or offer low-ball settlements.

An experienced personal injury attorney knows how to determine the true value of a claim. They also know tactics insurers use to deny or lessen the payments they make, and how to combat them. At Fieger Law, our Michigan personal injury lawyers will fight to help you get the maximum compensation you’re entitled to.

You don’t pay unless we win, which means:

• There is no charge for your first visit or telephone call. All your questions will be answered and there is no obligation.
• We never charge a fee unless we obtain a recovery for you. Our fee is a percentage of your recovery.
• We will advance all costs for investigators, experts, filing fees, and other expenses associated with obtaining the maximum recovery possible.

Yes. At your initial consultation one of our personal injury attorneys will meet with you. Throughout the remainder of your claim, you will work with a lawyer and a legal assistant from our law firm.

If you can’t come to us, we’ll come to you. That means, if your injuries prevent you from traveling to one of our offices, a lawyer from Fieger Law will meet with you at your home, the hospital, or any meeting place you choose.

Yes. Michigan follows a modified comparative negligence rule, which means you can still recover damages if you were found to be 50% or less at fault. However, your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault. In some cases, your assigned percentage of fault can be lowered, and your lawyer will explore this possibility to increase your chances of getting more compensation.

Every case is different. Some settle in a few months, while others, especially those that go to trial, can take a year or more. At Fieger Law, we work hard to get our clients compensation as quickly as possible without ever settling for less than they deserve.

Most personal injury cases settle before trial. However, if the insurance company won’t make a fair offer, your lawyer may recommend taking your case to court to give you the best chance of obtaining maximum compensation.

Don’t speak directly with the insurance company without your lawyer. Refer all communications to your attorney so you don’t say anything that could hurt your case, as insurance adjusters are notorious for trying to use victims’ words against them.

You may be able to recover damages for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other losses caused by your injury. We can collect documentation to more accurately calculate exactly how much money you’re owed, and then we pursue every penny to help ensure you’re paid fairly.

Evidence of pain and suffering can include medical records, doctor testimony, and your own account of how the injury impacts your daily life. Providing clear evidence can help you maximize compensation for these non-economic damages.

If your health insurer paid your bills, they may seek reimbursement from your settlement through a process called subrogation. Your lawyer can negotiate to reduce these repayment amounts to help you maximize your compensation.

Focus on your recovery, follow your doctor’s instructions, and keep your lawyer updated with new medical information or bills. The most important thing for you right now is getting better and spending time with loved ones.

Your lawyer can gather evidence to challenge those claims and help protect your right to compensation. Even if you share some fault, you may still be eligible to recover damages.

Yes. Your lawyer at Fieger Law will provide regular updates and be available to answer your questions throughout the process to ensure you stay up to date on their progress.

Don’t accept a settlement without speaking to a lawyer first. Early offers are usually much lower than the true value of your case, and once you accept an offer, you can no longer pursue additional compensation for the same injury.

Your priority is to call 911 so police and EMS can respond. In Detroit, you should specifically request a police report from the Detroit Police Department because Michigan is a no-fault state, and you will need that report when filing a claim.

Highway crashes in Detroit often involve multiple vehicles or even commercial trucks. Hiring a lawyer can improve your chances of a favorable outcome, as lawyers can more easily investigate available sources of compensation and pursue evidence like traffic camera footage and expert witness testimony to build a strong claim.

Yes. Michigan follows a comparative fault system. Even if you were partly responsible, you can still recover damages unless a jury finds you more than 50% at fault.

Your own insurance pays for medical bills and lost wages up to your PIP limits. However, you can still sue a negligent driver for pain and suffering if your injuries are considered serious, as defined under Michigan law.

Parties that can be held potentially liable include the truck driver, trucking company, cargo loader, or even a truck parts manufacturer. Multiple parties may share liability depending on what caused the crash.

Commercial truck drivers need commercial truck insurance. If you were not driving a commercial truck and were injured in a collision with a commercial truck, your regular PIP insurance should cover you. However, the cost of truck crashes often exceeds PIP limits, meaning you may be eligible for benefits from the commercial truck policy – which usually has much higher limits than ordinary vehicle insurance.

Accidents involving international carriers require an attorney familiar with cross-border insurance laws and federal trucking regulations.

Yes, but only through taking legal action. Your attorney must act quickly before that data is deleted or overwritten by the trucking company.

Detroit traffic includes heavy truck traffic along the Ambassador Bridge and I-75. Riders are more exposed and often suffer life-changing injuries even at lower speeds.

Detroit has a high rate of hit-and-run crashes. If you purchased uninsured motorist coverage, you may still recover damages through your own policy even if the driver was never found.

Possibly. If a dangerous road contributed to your crash, your attorney can investigate whether the city or county shares liability. In some cases, contractors who were tasked with building or repairing a road may be held liable.

Michigan doesn’t require helmet usage for all adult riders. That means you can still pursue compensation even if you weren’t wearing one at the time of your accident. However, insurance companies may try to reduce what they owe you by saying you share fault because your injuries would be less severe if you had been wearing a helmet.

Yes. Large healthcare systems can be held responsible when doctors or staff make preventable mistakes. Michigan law requires an expert affidavit before filing, so it is important to contact a lawyer quickly.

No. Malpractice occurs when a doctor or medical professional fails to follow the accepted standard of care. Intent to harm is rare and isn’t required in these types of cases. Proving a mistake occurred is enough if it caused injury and was due to negligence or carelessness.

Misdiagnosed strokes, medication errors, surgical mistakes, and failure to monitor post-operative patients are frequent causes of medical malpractice, especially in high-volume hospitals on West Grand Boulevard and Midtown.

Many malpractice cases settle before trial. However, Detroit juries have awarded large verdicts in severe negligence cases, so insurance companies may fight hard to avoid a courtroom.

A birth injury is harm that occurs during labor or delivery, usually due to a preventable medical error. A birth defect is typically genetic or developmental and not caused by medical negligence.

Yes. Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is one of the most serious types of preventable birth injuries. Detroit hospitals are required to act quickly with fetal monitoring and emergency intervention.

Immediately. Michigan law has a special timeline for minors, but delaying can risk losing access to critical fetal heart monitor strips and internal hospital investigations.

Families can recover compensation for lifelong medical care, home modifications to accommodate disabilities, special education costs, lost earning potential, and emotional harm. Severe birth injuries often require planning for decades of care.

Large hospital systems have powerful legal teams. Your lawyer must investigate staffing decisions, electronic fetal monitoring records, and whether protocols were ignored during delivery.

Unexplained bruises, sudden weight loss, bedsores, poor hygiene, withdrawal, or fearfulness when staff enter the room are all common signs that a resident is being abused or neglected by caretakers.

Yes. Evidence such as medical records, wound progression, and staff behavior can support a case even without verbal testimony.

Many are. State regulators regularly inspect facilities in Wayne and Oakland County, and violations are publicly recorded. When choosing a nursing home for a loved one, whether it’s their first or you’re moving them from one facility to another, it’s important to read plenty of reviews and tour the facility at different times of day.

If a facility lacks sufficient caregivers to monitor residents safely and that results in injury or harm, it may be considered liable for the harm they suffered and thus open to legal action against it.

Yes, and it’s often recommended for safety. You can pursue legal action afterward, even if your loved one no longer resides at the facility.

Business owners, landlords, government entities, or private homeowners who failed to address hazards they knew or should have known about.

Yes, these injuries qualify for claims if the hazard was not “open and obvious” or if the property owner failed to treat or warn about dangerous conditions promptly.

Photos, video surveillance, witness statements, incident reports, and proof that the hazard existed long enough for the owner to correct it are all important evidence.

Supermarkets all the way down to small independent grocery stores must regularly inspect aisles. If they ignored a spill or hazard and it resulted in a slip and injury, they may be liable.

Parties that can be held liable for defective medical devices include their manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and, sometimes, surgeons or hospitals, if they failed to warn or followed outdated recall procedures.

Yes, preserving the product is critical for making a claim against the liable party. It serves as key evidence and allows forensic experts to determine what went wrong.

A recall actually strengthens your case, but you still need to prove the product caused your injury and when you were harmed.

Possibly. If the hospital ignored recalls, failed to remove recalled products from inventory, or failed to warn patients of known risks, they may share liability.

No. Michigan’s dog bite statute follows strict liability, which means the owner is responsible regardless of prior behavior unless you provoked the animal or were trespassing.

You can still make a claim as long as you were lawfully on the property, such as visiting a friend, delivering mail, or performing work.

Yes. Dog attacks often cause anxiety, PTSD, and lasting fear of animals, which may be included in your damages.

In certain cases. If a landlord knew a dangerous dog was on the property and failed to act, they may share liability.

Immediately. Contact animal control and seek medical care, both for your health and to document the incident officially.

Yes. FDA approval does not shield drug companies from liability if they failed to warn of known risks or concealed data.

A mass tort involves many individuals harmed by the same drug but allows each person’s damages to be evaluated individually.

Not necessarily, but your doctor must be consulted immediately. Never stop on your own without medical guidance.

Possibly, but most drug lawsuits focus on the manufacturer unless the doctor failed to warn about known side effects.

To file a claim, you’ll need your prescription history, proof of injury or diagnosis, medical records, and ideally, the original packaging or pharmacy documentation.

Filing for workers’ compensation is the first step if you were an employee and were injured while performing work-related duties. However, you may also sue third parties such as subcontractors or equipment manufacturers depending on the circumstances of your case.

Workers who are not considered employees, such as contractors, are not eligible for workers’ compensation benefits but can file injury lawsuits when they are injured.

Yes. Pedestrians, drivers, or visitors injured due to unsafe conditions may pursue a premises liability or negligence lawsuit.

Falls, falling objects, electrical accidents, machinery failures, and improper safety protocols are all common causes of these types of injuries.

Yes. Workers’ compensation claims are no-fault, meaning injured workers can receive benefits even if they were at fault for their own injuries.

Meanwhile, Michigan also allows compensation for work-related personal injury lawsuits even if you were partly at fault, though your recovery may be reduced accordingly.

Right away. Construction companies and insurers move quickly to protect themselves, and important evidence can disappear in days.