Out-of-State Lawyer for a Michigan PIP Claim? What to Know

Your cousin’s lawyer in Toledo said he handles Michigan cases. He’s a nice guy. He sent flowers to the hospital. Three months in, Blue Cross is denying your MRI, your auto insurer is denying your wage loss, and when you ask your lawyer to explain the coordination letter that just showed up, he puts you on hold and transfers you to a paralegal who says she’ll “look into it.”

Michigan’s no-fault system is not like anywhere else in the country. An out-of-state firm that doesn’t regularly practice here can take your PIP case and hope nothing goes sideways.

If it’s already gone sideways, let’s talk about what it can cost you.

Can an out-of-state lawyer even handle a Michigan case?

Only with Michigan credentials. To file and appear in a Michigan court, a lawyer must be a member of the State Bar of Michigan or get temporary admission for your case through a Michigan sponsoring attorney (MCR 8.126), which is limited to a handful of cases a year. Some out-of-state firms partner with a Michigan lawyer. Ask who that is and what they actually do on your file.

A license is only the first question. The second is whether they know Michigan no-fault.

How is Michigan no-fault different from Ohio or Indiana?

Your own auto insurer pays most of your crash losses, whoever caused the crash. Ohio and Indiana are fault-based states: prove the other driver caused the crash, collect from their liability policy. A lawyer in Toledo or Fort Wayne handles those cases routinely.

In Michigan, your own auto insurance pays personal protection insurance (PIP) benefits: medical care, attendant care, wage loss and replacement services, regardless of who was at fault. The Michigan No-Fault Act was heavily rewritten in 2019, and the details matter.

If your lawyer can’t explain your PIP coverage level and MCL 500.3109a to you in plain English, ask whether a Michigan no-fault lawyer is involved in your case.

What did the 2019 no-fault reform change?

It ended automatic unlimited medical coverage. Before July 1, 2020, Michigan auto policies included unlimited lifetime PIP medical benefits. For policies issued or renewed after July 1, 2020, the named insured selects a PIP medical limit (MCL 500.3107c, 500.3107d):

• $50,000. Only if you’re enrolled in Medicaid and your spouse and resident relatives have qualifying coverage.
• $250,000. Household members who have qualified health coverage can also be excluded from PIP medical (MCL 500.3109a(2)).
• $500,000.
• Unlimited.
• Opt-out. Only for qualified persons with Medicare Parts A and B, and only if household members have other qualifying coverage.

If no valid selection was made and the premium paid doesn’t indicate a lower level, the law defaults to unlimited (MCL 500.3107c(3), (4)).

Here’s why that matters. With a $250,000 limit and a serious injury such as a brain injury, spinal cord injury or burns needing long-term care, the medical limit can run out. After that, you may be able to recover excess medical and wage losses from the at-fault driver (MCL 500.3135(3)(c)), but only if someone identifies that claim and that driver’s coverage early. Here’s who pays your medical bills when PIP runs out.

A Michigan PIP lawyer starts by pulling your declarations page and your signed selection form. If your lawyer hasn’t, ask why.

Why are both insurers denying your claims?

Often because of coordination. When you bought your policy, you may have chosen coordinated or primary PIP medical coverage:

• Coordinated PIP (lower premium): your health insurance pays first, and auto PIP covers what it doesn’t.
• Primary PIP: your auto PIP pays first.

This is where claims fall through the cracks. Your health plan sees a car crash and says “auto is primary.” Your auto insurer sees a coordinated policy and says “health is primary.” Each points at the other.

MCL 500.3109a governs coordination. A lawyer who works Michigan no-fault every day knows how to sort out which insurer owes what, and how to press the one that’s wrong. Meanwhile the deadlines keep running: written notice to the insurer within 1 year of the crash, and you can only recover losses from the year before you sue (MCL 500.3145). If the insurer unreasonably refused or delayed payment, a court can order it to pay your attorney fees (MCL 500.3148). If your claim was cut off after an insurer’s medical exam, see PIP denied after an IME.

What is attendant care, and are you collecting it?

It’s PIP coverage for the help you need at home. If you can’t bathe, dress, cook or get around safely on your own because of your crash injuries, Michigan PIP can pay for reasonably necessary attendant care, including care from a family member.

Ohio and Indiana have no equivalent no-fault benefit. A lawyer who doesn’t practice Michigan PIP may simply not think to ask.

There are limits since the reform. In-home care from relatives, household members or people you knew before the injury is capped at 56 hours per week unless the insurer agrees to more (MCL 500.3157(10)). Care from agencies and providers is subject to the reform’s fee schedule rules, the same rules behind why some doctors drop car accident patients. What matters most is documentation: a doctor’s prescription for the care and daily logs of who provided it and for how long.

Even at modest hourly rates, 56 hours a week adds up fast over a year. On a serious injury claim, attendant care can be one of the largest benefits, and one of the easiest to miss. Wage loss has its own rules too: see Michigan wage loss: 85% for up to 3 years.

How do you switch to a Michigan lawyer without paying twice?

Discharge the old lawyer in writing. Both firms then share one capped fee. In Michigan you can fire your lawyer at any time, with or without a reason, and hire a Michigan attorney. You don’t pay two full fees.

A discharged contingency-fee lawyer is entitled to quantum meruit, the reasonable value of the work they actually did, not the full contract fee. If they sent three letters and let PIP deadlines slide, that value is small. If they filed suit and built the case, it’s larger. Either way, Michigan caps the fee in no-fault and injury cases at one-third of the net recovery, and the cap covers any sharing between firms (MCR 8.121). The details are in will firing my lawyer cost me?, and the mechanics are in can you fire your Michigan injury lawyer?

What you need is a lawyer who practices here, who has handled PIP disputes in Michigan courts, and who can look at your declarations page and tell you, in one sentence, what coverage you picked and what it means. Not sure your current lawyer fits that description? Get a free second opinion on your Michigan PIP claim.

This article is general information about Michigan law, not legal advice for your specific case.