Michigan Personal Injury Law: A Plain-English Reference

If you were hurt in Michigan, the rules that decide your claim depend mostly on how it happened. Car and truck crashes run on no-fault insurance: your own auto insurer usually pays for medical care and much of your lost income no matter who caused the crash, and you can sue the at-fault driver only for certain losses. Most other injuries, such as a fall in a store or a medical mistake, are fault-based claims: you recover by showing someone else was responsible, and your own share of the blame reduces what you get. Work injuries and dog bites have their own rules. Most lawsuits must be filed within three years, but some notices are due within months.

Hurt and not sure where you stand? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

This reference is current as of September 2026 and links the detailed guide for each topic.

Which Michigan rules apply to my injury?

Find your situation below.

Outside no-fault, most claims are negligence claims, which require proof of “four essential elements: duty, breach, causation, and harm” (Kandil-Elsayed v F & E Oil, Inc, Michigan Supreme Court, 2023). In plain terms, the other side had a duty to be reasonably careful, fell short, and caused you real harm. Dog bites are an exception.

How does a Michigan car accident claim work?

A crash usually creates two claims that work together.

Your own insurer pays PIP benefits

Personal protection insurance (PIP) benefits are due “without regard to fault” (MCL 500.3105(2)). They pay (MCL 500.3107(1)):

• Allowable expenses: reasonable charges for reasonably necessary care, recovery and rehabilitation.
• Work loss: income lost in the first three years, generally reduced by 15% because the benefits aren’t taxed, and capped per 30 days. The cap is $7,201 for crashes from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, and $7,455 for crashes from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027 (DIFS Bulletin 2026-20-INS).
• Replacement services: up to $20 a day for three years for household tasks you can’t do.

For policies issued or renewed after July 1, 2020, medical coverage depends on the level chosen: unlimited, $500,000, $250,000 or, for some Medicaid enrollees, $50,000 (MCL 500.3107c(1)). A policyholder with Medicare Parts A and B can opt out if their spouse and relatives in the household have qualifying health coverage or PIP medical coverage (MCL 500.3107d(1)).

Usually your own household’s policy pays, even if you were riding in someone else’s car (MCL 500.3114(1)). Motorcycles, employer vehicles and a few other situations follow different rules. If no policy applies, you may be able to claim through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan, which must hear from you within one year (MCL 500.3172, 500.3174).

Your insurer must get written notice of the injury within one year of the crash unless it has already paid benefits (MCL 500.3145(1)). If you later sue for unpaid benefits, you generally can recover only losses incurred in the year before you sue, but that clock pauses while a specific claim awaits the insurer’s formal denial, if you pursue it diligently (MCL 500.3145(2), (3)). Overdue benefits earn 12% interest a year (MCL 500.3142).

When you can sue the at-fault driver

No-fault abolishes most crash lawsuits but keeps three main claims against the driver who caused the crash (MCL 500.3135):

• Pain and suffering, only if the crash caused death, serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement (MCL 500.3135(1)). A serious impairment must be observable or perceivable by someone other than you, affect an important body function (one of great value, significance or consequence to you), and affect your general ability to lead your normal life. It doesn’t have to be permanent (MCL 500.3135(5)).
• Excess economic loss: medical costs above your PIP limit, and lost income above PIP’s caps or after its three years (MCL 500.3135(3)(c)).
• The mini-tort: up to $3,000 for damage to your vehicle that insurance doesn’t cover, for crashes after July 1, 2020, in small claims court whenever legally possible (MCL 500.3135(3)(e), (4)(c)).

Pain-and-suffering and excess-loss damages usually come from the at-fault driver’s bodily injury liability insurance. On policies issued or renewed after July 1, 2020, it must be at least $250,000 per person and $500,000 per crash unless the policyholder chose lower limits, as low as $50,000 and $100,000 (MCL 500.3009(1), (5)).

Go deeper: what Michigan PIP pays after the 2019 reform, how PIP and a lawsuit work together, the serious impairment threshold and what to do when a PIP claim is denied.

What are the deadlines for a Michigan injury claim?

The basic rule is three years from the injury to file a lawsuit (MCL 600.5805(2)), and the clock usually starts the day you were hurt, not when you learn how serious it is (MCL 600.5827). Many claims also need notice to an insurer, employer or government agency much sooner, and missing one can end a claim just as surely. Where a row lists two deadlines, meet both.

Someone hurt before age 18 generally has at least until one year after turning 18 to sue (MCL 600.5851(1)), but children’s malpractice claims have their own rules (MCL 600.5851(7), (8)). Every deadline, with the exceptions that can change yours, is in Michigan personal injury deadlines in one place.

How does fault affect what I can recover?

Michigan uses comparative fault: the court reduces your damages by your percentage of fault (MCL 600.2959). If your damages are $100,000 and you’re found 20% at fault, you receive $80,000.

• More than 50% at fault. If your share is greater than everyone else’s combined, you still get economic damages, reduced by your share, but no noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering (MCL 600.2959).
• Car crashes. PIP doesn’t depend on fault, but if you’re more than 50% at fault, you can’t recover pain and suffering or mini-tort damages from the other driver (MCL 500.3135(2)(b), (4)(a)).
• Seat belts. Not wearing a required seat belt can reduce a crash recovery by no more than 5% (MCL 257.710e(8)).
• Alcohol or controlled substances. If the injured person was impaired by alcohol or a controlled substance and, as a result, 50% or more the cause of the accident, the defendant has an absolute defense (MCL 600.2955a(1)).
• Several people at fault. Each defendant generally pays only its own share (MCL 600.6304(4)).

An adjuster’s estimate of your fault is a negotiating position, not a finding. See how comparative fault works in Michigan and how fault is decided in injury cases.

What damages can I recover in Michigan?

Damages are the money a court can award for your losses:

• Economic damages: losses you can add up, such as medical bills, future care, and lost wages or earning capacity.
• Noneconomic damages: harm without a receipt. Michigan’s malpractice statute, for example, lists pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, physical disfigurement, loss of society and companionship, and loss of consortium (MCL 600.1483(3)).

For what drives a case’s value, see how to evaluate a personal injury case.

Are damages capped in Michigan?

Michigan caps noneconomic damages in medical malpractice and product liability cases, and the State Treasurer adjusts both caps every year (MCL 600.1483(4), 600.2946a(1)). The 2026 figures, from the Michigan Department of Treasury’s January 30, 2026 notice:

Juries aren’t told about the caps; the judge reduces an award that exceeds one (MCL 600.6304(5), 600.2946a(2)). Neither product liability cap applies if the court finds the defendant knew the product was defective and likely to cause the injury, and willfully disregarded that knowledge (MCL 600.2949a). The figures change yearly, so ask a lawyer which one applies to your case.

Want to know which of these rules fit your situation? Get a free case review. Four quick questions, no cost, no obligation.

What if a government agency is responsible?

Michigan government agencies are generally immune from injury claims arising from their government functions (MCL 691.1407(1)), with exceptions:

• Roads: the agency with jurisdiction must keep the part of the highway designed for vehicle travel in reasonable repair, which doesn’t include crosswalks or trailways (MCL 691.1402(1)).
• Sidewalks: a city, village or township must keep a sidewalk next to a public road in reasonable repair, but it’s presumed to have done so unless the injury was caused by a vertical discontinuity of 2 inches or more or another dangerous condition in the sidewalk itself (MCL 691.1402a).
• Public buildings with a dangerous or defective condition the agency knew or should have known about and didn’t fix in a reasonable time (MCL 691.1406).
• Government-owned vehicles driven carelessly by an officer, agent or employee (MCL 691.1405).
• Money-making (proprietary) activities, certain sewage backups, and most medical care (MCL 691.1413, 691.1417, 691.1407(4)).

These claims carry Michigan’s shortest deadlines:

• Road or sidewalk defects: within 120 days (180 for a child under 18), serve written notice of the exact location and nature of the defect, the injury and known witnesses, in person or by certified mail with a return receipt, on someone who can legally accept court papers for the agency. For a state road, file it in triplicate with the Court of Claims clerk instead (MCL 691.1404). A highway lawsuit is due within two years (MCL 691.1411(2)).
• Public buildings: the same kind of notice, within 120 days (MCL 691.1406).
• The State of Michigan: for an injury claim against the State or one of its agencies, file a written claim or notice of intent, signed and verified under oath, with the clerk of the Court of Claims within six months (MCL 600.6431(2), (4)).
• Sewage backups: written notice to the agency within 45 days after you discovered, or should have discovered, the damage or injury. This notice rule doesn’t apply to claims for noneconomic damages (MCL 691.1419(1), (7)).

What if a dog bit me?

Michigan’s dog-bite statute makes the owner liable for your damages if the dog bit you without provocation while you were on public property, or lawfully on private property, including the owner’s (MCL 287.351(1)). Neither the dog’s history nor the owner’s knowledge of it matters, so you don’t have to prove the owner was careless.

You’re lawfully on the dog owner’s property if you’re there to perform a duty the law imposes, such as delivering mail, or as an invited or permitted visitor of whoever lawfully possesses it, unless you came to commit an unlawful or criminal act (MCL 287.351(2)). The statute covers bites; for other dog injuries, such as being knocked down, ask a lawyer which rules apply. The deadline is the general three years (MCL 600.5805(2)).

See how dog bite claims work and how to get compensated after a dog attack.

What if I fell on someone else’s property?

Injuries caused by unsafe property are premises liability claims. What the owner owed you depends on why you were there. Michigan still recognizes three kinds of visitors: trespassers, licensees and invitees, though in May 2026 the Michigan Supreme Court agreed to consider whether to change those categories (Molitoris, No. 166699). People there for business purposes, like customers, are generally invitees, and owners must use reasonable care to protect them from an unreasonable risk of harm from a dangerous condition (Kandil-Elsayed).

Before that July 28, 2023 decision, an “open and obvious” hazard could end a case before trial, because the owner was said to owe no duty. The Michigan Supreme Court overruled that approach and held that “the open and obvious nature of a condition is relevant to breach and the parties’ comparative fault.” It also dropped the narrow “special aspects” test: an owner who should anticipate harm from an obvious hazard still owes reasonable care.

In practice, an owner can still argue that you should have seen the ice, to show it acted reasonably or to cut your damages by your share of fault. Whether the owner fell short is a question of fact for the jury. Claims against private owners have the three-year deadline (MCL 600.5805(2)); government property follows the rules above.

See how slip-and-fall claims work, premises liability claims, and the Kandil-Elsayed section of Michigan comparative fault.

What if I was hurt at work?

Workers’ compensation is usually your only claim against your employer, even if the employer was careless. The statute calls it your “exclusive remedy” (MCL 418.131(1)). Two situations let you sue your employer in court:

• An intentional tort. You were hurt by the employer’s deliberate act, and it specifically intended an injury. An employer is treated as intending one if it “had actual knowledge that an injury was certain to occur and willfully disregarded that knowledge” (MCL 418.131(1)).
• An uninsured employer. If your employer didn’t secure workers’ compensation coverage as the law requires, you can sue it (MCL 418.611, 418.641(2)).

You may also be able to sue someone other than your employer or a coworker, such as a careless driver, another contractor or the maker of a defective machine (MCL 418.827(1)). Your employer or its insurer is repaid its benefits from that recovery, after the costs of getting it (MCL 418.827(5)).

Tell your employer within 90 days, and make your claim within two years (MCL 418.381(1)). If you were hurt in a crash while working, workers’ compensation benefits are subtracted from your PIP benefits (MCL 500.3109(1)).

See how workers’ compensation works, when you can sue after a workplace injury, and workers’ comp versus a personal injury claim.

What if a doctor or hospital made a mistake?

Malpractice claims against health professionals and facilities have extra steps:

1. A notice of intent. You generally must give each provider written notice at least 182 days before suing (MCL 600.2912b(1)), stating the facts, the standard of care, how it was breached, what should have been done, how the breach caused the injury and the name of every provider being notified (MCL 600.2912b(4)). The provider must answer in writing within 154 days (MCL 600.2912b(7)).
2. An affidavit of merit. The complaint must be filed with a sworn statement from a health professional who your attorney reasonably believes qualifies as an expert witness, stating the standard of care, the breach, what should have been done and how the breach caused the injury (MCL 600.2912d(1)).
3. A shorter deadline. Generally two years from the act or omission, or six months after you discovered or should have discovered the claim, whichever is later, and generally no more than six years after the act (MCL 600.5805(8), 600.5838a). If the deadline would pass during the notice period, a notice given in time pauses the clock for the days left in that period (MCL 600.5856(c)).

Noneconomic damages are capped as shown above, and the notice takes records and expert review, so start early. See how medical malpractice claims work and what to do if you think you have a malpractice case.

What if a family member died?

A wrongful death claim exists when the person who died could have sued had they lived (MCL 600.2922(1)). The personal representative of the estate, the person appointed to handle it, brings the claim (MCL 600.2922(2)). The spouse, children and other descendants, parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, the spouse’s children and people named in the will, among others, can share in the recovery if they suffered damages (MCL 600.2922(3)).

Damages can include the medical, hospital, funeral and burial expenses the estate owes; the person’s conscious pain and suffering before death; and the loss of financial support and of the person’s society and companionship (MCL 600.2922(6)). In a pending lawsuit, the court approves any settlement and, after a hearing, decides how the money is divided (MCL 600.2922(5), (6)).

The deadline is generally the one the person who died would have had: three years for most claims, two for malpractice. If the person died before it ran out, or within 30 days after, the personal representative can sue within two years after letters of authority (the papers that let them act for the estate) are issued, but no later than three years after the original deadline (MCL 600.5852(1), (4)). In malpractice deaths, a notice of intent can pause that extra time too: in Ernest v Brown (July 29, 2026), the Michigan Supreme Court overruled Waltz v Wyse (2004) on this point.

After a fatal crash, dependents may also receive PIP survivors’ loss benefits for up to three years (MCL 500.3108). See how wrongful death claims work.

How do injury lawyers get paid in Michigan?

Injury lawyers often work on a contingency fee: a percentage of what’s recovered, and no fee if nothing is. In personal injury, wrongful death and no-fault benefit cases, a Michigan court rule sets the limits:

• The fee can’t be more than one-third of the amount recovered (MCR 8.121(B)).
• The one-third is figured on the net, after “all disbursements properly chargeable to the enforcement of the claim” are deducted (MCR 8.121(C)(1)).
• The agreement must be in writing, and you get a copy (MCR 8.121(F)). A lawyer may agree to charge less (MCR 8.121(D)).
• A fee a court orders your no-fault insurer to pay for unreasonably refusing or delaying benefits doesn’t count against the cap (MCR 8.121(A); MCL 500.3148(1)).

For case costs, liens and what you take home, see how personal injury lawyers get paid.

How do I choose a Michigan injury lawyer?

• Check the license. The State Bar of Michigan’s member directory lets you check a lawyer’s status, and the Attorney Discipline Board shows whether a lawyer’s license has been affected by discipline.
• Match the experience to your case. A no-fault fight, a malpractice claim and a claim against a city call for different skills, so ask how many cases like yours the lawyer has handled and who will do the work.
• Look at the record, with care. Our directory of Michigan personal injury lawyers lists firms by city with their Google ratings and the $1M+ verdicts and settlements each firm reports on its own website, and the Michigan leaderboard ranks firms by those results. Most are reported by the firms and not independently verified; those confirmed by a news report or court record are marked. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. No firm pays for its position (how we rank firms).
• Get the fee in writing before you sign, and bring these questions to ask an injury attorney. For more, see how to find the right lawyer for your case.

What to do next

1. Get medical care, and keep every record. Save bills, visit notes, pay stubs and photos, and log what you can’t do. After a crash, pain and suffering depends partly on an impairment others can observe or perceive, so medical records matter.
2. Find your first deadline and meet it in writing. Send notices to your auto insurer, your employer or a government agency in writing, and keep copies and proof of delivery.
3. Be careful what you say and sign. Don’t give the other side’s insurer a recorded statement or sign a release before you know how badly you’re hurt; a signed release generally ends the claim.
4. Get a free case review before the shortest deadline gets close. Get a free case review, or compare Michigan injury lawyers near you.
5. Get the fee agreement in writing, and keep your copy (MCR 8.121(F)).

What waiting can cost

• The right to sue. A lawsuit filed after its deadline can be dismissed, however strong the case (MCL 600.5805(1)).
• A claim against the government. Road and building notices are due within 120 days, and State injury claims within six months.
• No-fault benefits. Without written notice or a payment within a year of the crash, you can lose the right to sue for PIP benefits, and a PIP lawsuit generally reaches back only one year (MCL 500.3145).
• Evidence. Video gets recorded over, hazards get fixed, cars get repaired and witnesses move on.

What a good outcome looks like

Your medical bills go to the right insurer and get paid, and every notice goes out on time. If someone else was at fault, their insurer pays what Michigan law lets you recover, reduced only by a share of fault that matches the evidence. Your lawyer’s license, experience and fee were checked up front, and each decision is made with the facts and the deadlines in view.

For injuries outside Michigan, start with the law guide or the guide to injury claims. To browse by topic, see car, truck and motorcycle accidents, slip, fall and unsafe property, medical malpractice, workplace injuries and defective products.

Updated September 24, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.