Haslett, MI Personal Injury Law Firms & Lawyers

Airbag cases are difficult and expensive. Insurance companies will not settle easily, if at all. You will need to have an expert witness, accident reconstruction and a lawyer who is experienced in airbag cases. Unless your injuries are catastrophic, it may not be possible to go forward as a logistical matter, regardless of legalities

Probably not. Since you were injured in the course of employment, your employer / co-workers have immunity from a civil claim arising out of the injury under the Industrial Insurance Act (unless the injury was intentional / deliberate). You have a year from the injury date to file an Accident Report with L&I to process a work comp claim. You are not required by law to file a work comp claim. You have a right to do so. Work comp will pay medical bills, time loss compensation, permanent partial disability but no pain and suffering. If you have health insurance available to you, you may not want to make a work comp claim. It does limit the doctors who will see you, since a lot of doctors won't treat injured workers. The work comp system is a huge hassle, too. If you have questions, you should consult with a lawyer who handles work comp injury claims. If you were injured because of the fault of a person / firm NOT your employer / NOT in your same employ, then you might have a third party civil claim, too. Was the roof collapse the fault of say a contractor, or roofing contractor?

Your attorney should PROMPTLY make arrangements to provide you with detail on the costs he/she proposes to recover from the settlement and the fee to be deducted and the net amount available to you. If there are issues with liens, those should also be discussed (and could be the reason for other than prompt disbursement). In any event, the attorney should keep you advised of the status and answer any of your reasonable inquiries. If the attorney doesn't give you answers and explain the matter so you can understand it, you should file a Grievance with the State Bar of Michigan.