FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Car Accidents

If you’ve been in a car accident in Michigan, you likely have questions about what happens next.

Understanding when you need legal protection is the first step toward building a strong defense and moving forward with confidence.

  • You might be surprised to know that a police officer does not owe you a duty to produce an accurate accident report. Police officers receive limited training in how to complete accident reports. Accident reports are uniform throughout the state and are called UD-10’s. If you read an accident report carefully, it has several sections that should be completed by an officer. Many are frequently left blank due to neglect or a hurried attempt to complete the report.

    Often the narrative part of the report will include a witness statement but the area of the report where the officer should list the name and contact information for the witness is left blank.

    To avoid this problem or to help you correct it later, if you are able to do so at the accident scene, take pictures of the vehicles involved and record witness or drivers statements on your cellphone and get the contact information for each witness. Also take a 360 degree video of the accident scene and include skid marks, area of impact, property and road damage, and car debris.

    To answer the question posted, you should either directly contact the officer who wrote the report and request it be corrected, or contact the officer’s supervisor and request it be corrected. But understand it is not mandatory that they do so.

  • Unfortunately in Michigan, if you are the owner and operator of a car that is uninsured and you are injured in an accident, you are prohibited from collecting no fault PIP benefits. If you are not the owner an uninsured vehicle but was driving it, you are eligible to receive your lost wages, medical expenses, household services, and attendant care paid by a motor vehicle insurance company.

  • You may be what is referred to as the “constructive” owner of a vehicle not registered or titled to you, if you have unrestricted access to the vehicle, have your own set of keys for the vehicle, do not have to have permission from the titled owner to use the vehicle, or you pay to maintain it or put gas in it. If you answer yes to one or more of the above questions, you may be found to be the constructive owner.