Rideshare Accident Lawyer in Michigan

Michigan's three-year personal injury statute of limitations under MCL 600.5805(2) governs rideshare crash tort claims. But the PIP benefit notice deadline under MCL 500.3145 — one year from the crash — is the more urgent deadline for first-party medical expense recovery. In a rideshare crash, the PIP priority analysis under MCL 500.3114 must be completed within the first weeks of the crash: identify whether the passenger has their own Michigan no-fault policy and what tier it covers, then determine whether the TNC's insurer is a secondary or primary PIP source, and whether the MACP applies. An attorney retained immediately after the crash completes the PIP priority analysis, notifies the correct PIP insurer in writing within the first weeks, and begins building the MCL 500.3135 serious impairment case simultaneously.

Michigan's 2019 PA 21 no-fault reform created tiered PIP elections under MCL 500.3107c — $50,000 (Medicaid only), $250,000, $500,000, or unlimited medical coverage. For rideshare passengers, the relevant tier is the passenger's own no-fault policy's PIP election (post-2019). A passenger who elected $50,000 Medicaid-only PIP and suffered catastrophic injuries in an Uber or Lyft crash may exhaust their PIP coverage in days. After PIP exhaustion, the tort claim against the TNC's $1,000,000 Period 2-3 policy requires meeting the MCL 500.3135 serious impairment threshold — demonstrating "serious impairment of body function" per McCormick v. Carrier, 487 Mich. 180 (2010). Death automatically satisfies the threshold. An attorney documents the impact on daily activities from the first medical contact to build the serious impairment record.

MCL 257.2107 requires Michigan TNCs to conduct annual criminal background checks and driving history reviews for all drivers. MCL 257.2109 requires annual vehicle safety inspections for vehicles five years of age or older — a requirement absent in many other states' TNC statutes. If a Michigan TNC driver had a disqualifying criminal record that the annual background check should have caught, or if the vehicle failed or never received its required annual safety inspection, the TNC faces direct negligence claims for negligent driver vetting and negligent vehicle inspection. These records are not public, but they are discoverable through LARA and by subpoena in litigation. An attorney requests the driver's TNC enrollment and background check history and the vehicle's inspection record as the first discovery targets.

Michigan's highway-defect government claims add a separate track in rideshare accidents involving road conditions on Michigan streets or state trunklines. The Governmental Tort Liability Act's 120-day notice requirement under MCL 691.1404 applies to highway-defect claims — the most compressed government claim notice window in Michigan law. For crashes at DTW staging areas, Wayne County Airport Authority has its own claims process and insurance. An attorney conducts a full venue audit within the first days of engagement: TNC insurer, government road-defect exposure with 120-day notice, MACP eligibility, and the driver's personal insurer — simultaneously, not as sequential steps.