Michigan Truck Accident Lawyer
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- You’re not navigating this alone — Matz Injury Law has decades of experience with Michigan truck accident cases for you.
- You keep more of your settlement: 22% vs. the standard 33⅓%.
- Real results back it up: $300M+ recovered, including a $3.45M truck case.
- Help can start now: no-fault PIP covers medical bills and lost wages right away.
- You still have time, but evidence is time-sensitive — call 866-226-6833 for a free consult.
The morning after a truck crash in Michigan, the questions outnumber the pain. Medical bills are already arriving. Your own insurer is asking for a recorded statement, and the trucking company’s adjuster has been calling. The case has started without you, and you haven’t had a moment to think.
Trucking companies move fast after a crash. Black box data, electronic driver logs, and maintenance records are not kept indefinitely. An early recorded statement can limit what you recover before you fully understand your injuries. Miss the wrong deadline under Michigan’s no-fault rules, and your personal injury protection benefits stop arriving.
Matz Injury Law has handled Michigan truck accident cases since 1977. We move quickly to investigate the crash, identify every liable party, and keep both the no-fault PIP claim and the case against the trucking company on track. Delays in the first days can cost you evidence and benefits you cannot get back.
Why Matz Injury Law for Your Michigan Truck Accident Case
Choosing a law firm after a truck accident is a high-stakes decision, especially when your health, your income, and your family’s stability are all hanging in the balance. There are things worth knowing before you sign anything.
Our Truck Accident Track Record in Michigan
Matz Injury Law has recovered over $300 million for Michigan clients across decades of personal injury work, including commercial truck cases across the state. Because our firm charges 22% rather than the standard 33⅓%, more of each result stays with the people who need it.
Some of our truck accident results include:
- $3,450,000 settlement for a Genesee County family after a cement truck crossed the center line, causing three deaths and seriously injuring a child
- $1,300,000 settlement for a mother and daughter following a car and truck collision in Monroe County, resolved in Federal District Court
- $1,000,000 settlement for a woman struck by a gravel truck in rural Michigan after she broke both ankles in the crash
- $750,000 settlement for the family of a young driver struck from behind by a semi in Lapeer County
Past results reflect the specific facts of each case and do not predict what any future case may recover.
Michigan Truck Accident Attorneys
Client Testimonials
“Absolutely the most amazing lawyer we could have asked for . I couldn’t thank you enough for sticking with us and helping us with everything! Jared is the guy for you ! 10/10” — Victoria T.
“I was involved in a fatal trucking accident. I reached out to Matz Injury Law and Jared was extremely helpful in explaining to me how I needed to proceed going forward. I highly recommend giving them a call if you’re in need of a personal attorney as they will answer all your questions and help you get proper compensation for your losses.” — Christian H.
“Following a near head on collision that left my wife with serious injuries to her leg and a head injury from the air bag that caused “instant onset dementia”, she has been deteriorating and needs constant supervision. Hats off to Steve Matz and all the work he and his firm have done to secure the compensation needed from the insurance company to facilitate her care. Without his tireless help I don’t know where we would be today. I highly recommend Matz Injury Law and if needed would definitely utilize them again.” — Thomas C.
Why Michigan Truck Accident Cases Are More Complex Than Car Accidents
A truck crash feels different from a car crash from the moment it happens. The vehicle was bigger, the impact was harder, and the company behind it has resources and legal teams that a private driver does not. By the time the dust settles, you may already be facing decisions that will shape how much of your recovery you keep.
The legal mechanics are different too. Michigan’s no-fault system handles your medical care and wage loss through your own personal injury protection coverage, but a commercial truck case also runs through federal trucking regulations, the trucking company’s insurance, and sometimes coverage for cargo loaders or maintenance contractors. Two legal frameworks run on parallel tracks, and missing either one can cost you.
Several layers make these cases harder than a typical car crash:
- Multiple liable parties: The driver, the motor carrier, the loading company, the maintenance provider, and the parts manufacturer can all share fault for one crash.
- Federal regulation: Commercial trucks are governed by FMCSA safety standards layered on top of Michigan law.
- Larger insurance policies and well-resourced defense teams: Federal minimums for interstate carriers start at $750,000 for general freight, and the legal teams defending those policies move quickly.
- Technical evidence with a short shelf life: Electronic logging device data, black box readouts, dispatch records, and maintenance logs are not kept forever, and the trucking company controls them.
The combination is why a generic personal injury approach often misses recovery available under Michigan’s no-fault system and federal trucking rules.
What Michigan No-Fault Law Means for Truck Accident Victims
“No-fault” sounds like it should make a truck case simpler. In practice, it often splits the case into two parts and asks you to manage both while you are still recovering.
One part involves personal injury protection benefits. Depending on the order of priority, those benefits may come from your own auto insurer, a resident relative’s auto insurer, or an insurer assigned through the Michigan Automobile Insurance Placement Facility. PIP can cover medical care, wage loss, replacement services, attendant care, and mileage tied to the crash, regardless of who caused it.
The other part is the claim against the trucking company and any other responsible parties for losses no-fault does not fully cover. This is where pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other non-economic losses are handled. To bring that claim, your injury must meet one of three thresholds: death, permanent serious disfigurement, or a serious impairment of body function that can be objectively identified and affects how you live. Michigan’s comparative fault rule can reduce your recovery if you share fault, and it can bar non-economic damages if you are more than 50% at fault.
Michigan drivers can choose different PIP medical coverage levels, including $50,000 for eligible Medicaid households, $250,000, $500,000, or unlimited coverage. Some drivers with Medicare may opt out of PIP medical coverage altogether. We recommend unlimited PIP medical coverage whenever possible, especially because catastrophic truck-crash injuries can create care needs that last for years.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for a Michigan Truck Accident?
The first instinct after a truck crash is to look at the driver. The driver is one piece of the picture, but rarely the whole one. A commercial truck rolls down a Michigan highway because a chain of people and companies kept it moving, and any of them can carry fault.
Sorting out which parties belong in your case affects what insurance is available and what your total recovery can look like. Each potentially liable party may carry separate coverage:
- The truck driver: Negligent driving, fatigue, distraction, or driving under the influence puts the driver in the case directly.
- The trucking company (motor carrier): Hiring decisions, training, scheduling pressure, and federal compliance failures can expose the company to liability beyond the driver’s actions.
- The cargo loader or shipper: When a load is improperly secured or overweight, the company that loaded it may bear responsibility for the resulting crash.
- The maintenance provider: Brake failures, tire blowouts, and steering problems often trace back to skipped or inadequate maintenance, and the contractor that handled the work can be liable.
Each responsible party may have separate insurance coverage or another source of recovery. The total available to you can depend on which parties are identified, what coverage applies, and how the crash happened. If the case focuses only on the driver, it may miss another company whose choices contributed to the crash or whose insurance could matter for a catastrophic injury claim.
What Are the Most Common Causes of Truck Accidents in Michigan?
A truck crash is rarely a single moment of bad luck. It is the end of a chain that started hours, days, or weeks earlier. A driver pushed past a safe limit, a dispatcher set an unrealistic schedule, or a brake job got skipped. Cause shapes liability, and liability shapes what the case can recover. Those threads are often where a Michigan semi-truck accident lawyer starts.
Common causes of Michigan truck crashes include:
- Driver fatigue: Federal hours-of-service rules cap the time a commercial driver can spend behind the wheel, and violations of those rules show up in driving logs and electronic logging device data.
- Distracted or impaired driving: Phone use, eating behind the wheel, alcohol, prescription medication, and stimulants all appear in commercial driving records and post-crash testing.
- Improperly secured cargo: Shifted loads can cause jackknife crashes, rollovers, or sudden trailer sway, especially on Michigan’s curving rural highways and entrance ramps.
- Weather and road conditions: Lake-effect snow off Lake Michigan, ice on I-75 and I-94, and reduced visibility through Upper Peninsula corridors all factor into how a commercial driver should adjust speed and following distance.
- Wide-turn and blind-spot errors: A truck taking a wide right turn can swing into adjacent traffic. Fault in a wide-turn crash often requires reviewing dash-cam footage, surveillance video, and electronic logging device data to establish it.
The cause determines what evidence matters and which parties to bring into the case.
What Injuries Are Common in Michigan Semi-Truck Accidents?
The injuries from a commercial truck crash are not the same as those from a typical car accident. Force, weight, and sometimes fire turn what would have been a fender-bender into something that changes how you live for years. A semi can weigh 80,000 pounds, and the body in the smaller vehicle absorbs nearly all of that difference. Long-term medical projections often shape the value of these cases as much as the liability questions do, which is why hiring a Michigan truck accident lawyer with experience in catastrophic injuries matters early.
The injuries that appear most often in Michigan truck crashes include:
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI): Concussions, contusions, and diffuse axonal injuries can affect memory, concentration, mood, and personality. Recovery can take years, and in many cases it is never fully complete.
- Spinal cord injuries: Partial or complete paralysis, loss of bladder or bowel control, and lifelong attendant care needs all flow from a serious cord injury.
- Fractures: Pelvis, spine, and long-bone fractures often involve surgery, hardware, and extended rehabilitation, with lasting implications for mobility.
- Internal injuries: Organ damage, internal bleeding, and torn diaphragms can remain hidden in the hours after a crash and become life-threatening before symptoms appear.
- Burns, lacerations, and scarring: Cab fires and broken glass can leave permanent scarring, which under Michigan’s no-fault rules may meet the third-party threshold on its own.
- Post-traumatic stress and emotional injuries: Insomnia, panic attacks, and avoidance behaviors are real injuries from a serious crash, and they affect work and relationships long after the bones heal.
What Should I Do After a Truck Accident in Michigan?
The minutes and hours after a truck crash are the hardest time to make good decisions. You may be in pain, unsure how serious your injuries are, and already talking to people who are not on your side. The steps below can protect both your health and your case while you sort the rest out.
- Call 911 and report the crash. Law enforcement on the scene creates a police report, and that report becomes a foundational piece of evidence in any later claim.
- Get medical care, even if you feel fine. Some of the most serious truck crash injuries, including internal bleeding, traumatic brain injury, and soft tissue damage, surface hours or days later. A documented medical evaluation also anchors your no-fault PIP claim.
- Document the scene. Photograph the vehicles, the damage, your injuries, the road, skid marks, signage, and weather conditions. Try to capture the truck’s DOT number, the trailer number, and any visible company markings.
- Collect witness information. Names, phone numbers, and short notes on what each person saw can become important months later when memories fade.
- Notify the proper auto insurer to start the PIP claim. Michigan’s no-fault system runs on prompt notice. Your own auto insurer is often the first source of medical and wage-loss benefits, but the order of priority can change depending on your coverage, household, and vehicle involved.
- Avoid giving a recorded statement to the trucking company’s insurer before you have legal advice. Statements made before your injuries are fully understood can be used to limit later recovery.
How Do You Choose the Right Michigan Truck Accident Lawyer?
The decision to hire a Michigan truck accident attorney comes at the worst possible time. Every firm calling you back can sound like it’s saying the same thing. A few specifics separate a commercial truck accident lawyer in Michigan who handles these cases regularly from one who takes them on occasion.
Things worth asking and looking for:
- Commercial truck case experience, not just car-accident experience. A semi case, a logging truck case, and a delivery van case each move differently from a passenger vehicle claim.
- Working knowledge of both Michigan no-fault and federal FMCSA rules. A truck case that ignores either side leaves money behind.
- A clear plan for evidence preservation. Spoliation letters, ELD data requests, and dash-cam preservation should be in motion within days, not months.
- Direct attorney involvement. Ask who will actually handle the case from intake through resolution.
- An honest fee structure. Get the fee in writing, including how it applies at each stage of the case.
That last point is where Michigan truck-crash clients often pay the most without realizing it. Most personal injury firms in the state charge 33⅓%. Matz Injury Law charges 22%. On any recovery, that difference stays in your pocket. Truck accident settlements in Michigan vary widely based on injuries and coverage, and understanding the fee structure before you sign changes what you actually take home.
How Long Do You Have to File a Michigan Truck Accident Claim?
When you are already injured, deadlines add pressure you should not have to manage alone. One missed window can affect your third-party claim, your no-fault benefits, or both.
For most Michigan truck accident claims, the statute of limitations to file a third-party lawsuit is three years from the date of the crash under MCL 600.5805. Michigan’s statute of limitations carries limited exceptions that can shorten that window, and wrongful death claims generally fall under the same three-year period.
PIP benefits run on shorter, separate clocks. Your insurer expects prompt notice, and specific expenses such as medical bills and mileage carry their own one-year submission rules. The wage loss benefits clock runs on a separate track from the third-party lawsuit deadline. If a government vehicle was involved, notice requirements under the Governmental Tort Liability Act can be as short as six months.
There is also an evidence clock. Trucking companies control many of their own records, and those records are not kept forever. Preservation letters put the company on notice to hold electronic logging device data, dash-cam video, black box data, dispatch logs, and maintenance records before routine retention practices put that evidence at risk.
What Compensation May Be Available After a Michigan Truck Accident?
What a Michigan truck accident case can recover depends on your injuries, your insurance coverage, the trucking company’s policies, and the long-term cost of what happened to you.
Personal injury protection (PIP) benefits through your own auto insurance include:
- Medical expenses: Hospital, surgery, therapy, prescriptions, and ongoing care related to the crash. With unlimited PIP, this coverage continues for life.
- Wage loss: 85% of pre-tax wages you lose because of the injury, paid for up to three years, and not taxable.
- Household services: Up to $20 per day for three years when a doctor finds it medically necessary.
- Attendant care: Hourly pay for someone performing the work of a nurse’s aide.
- Mileage reimbursement: Travel to and from medical appointments and therapy.
- Survivor’s loss benefits: When a loved one is killed, surviving dependents may receive support benefits, and funeral expenses are reimbursed within the policy’s limits ($1,750 to $5,000).
Third-party damages from the at-fault driver and trucking company may include:
- Pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of life’s enjoyment when injuries meet Michigan’s serious-impairment, serious-permanent-disfigurement, or death thresholds.
- Future medical expenses and earning capacity loss beyond what PIP covers.
- Exemplary damages in cases involving a drunk or impaired driver with a history of driving under the influence. Michigan does not have punitive damages.
Federal rules require interstate carriers to carry a minimum of $750,000 in liability coverage for general freight, which often gives truck cases more available coverage than a typical car accident. Recovery in any specific case turns on what is provable, what is documented, and what the long-term picture looks like.
Contact Matz Injury Law About Your Michigan Truck Accident Case
A serious truck accident can leave you managing injuries, bills, missed work, and insurance calls all at once. When a commercial vehicle is involved, the trucking company and its insurer may already be working to protect their side of the case. You deserve someone looking out for yours.
Matz Injury Law offers free consultations to truck accident victims across Michigan, including Grand Rapids, Flint, Lansing, Kalamazoo, and the Upper Peninsula. We charge 22%, not 33⅓%, and there are no fees unless we recover compensation for you.
Call us at 866-226-6833 or use our online contact form.
Written By Steven Matz
Steven J. Matz is the founder of Matz Injury Law, specializing in personal injury litigation with a focus on car accident victims. With over 40 years of legal experience, Mr. Matz has achieved numerous million-dollar settlements. He holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized among Michigan’s Top Attorneys. Steven J. Matz is a frequent lecturer on legal ethics and personal injury law, and serves on the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board.
