Can I Recover Compensation After a Traumatic Brain Injury in Michigan?

The hardest brain injuries to prove are often the ones that do not show up on a scan. You may have walked away from the crash, been told the injury was minor, then found weeks later that the headaches, memory gaps, and mood changes were not going away. As the medical bills arrive and work grows harder, one question follows you: whether a Michigan personal injury claim can recover the cost of an injury other people keep treating as minor.

That gap between how the injury feels and how it looks on paper is where traumatic brain injury compensation in Michigan is often won or lost. A brain injury can change how you work, drive, and function for months or years, yet an early offer to settle may cover only the visible costs and none of the long-term care. Accepting too soon can sign away the value of treatment you have not needed yet.

Harris Altman, PC handles brain injury claims across Michigan’s lower peninsula, and Bradley B. Harris has built much of his practice around motor vehicle cases where the central fight is proving a traumatic brain injury the defense wants to call minor. Our attorneys handle both sides of a Michigan injury claim: the no-fault personal injury protection (PIP) benefits with the applicable no-fault insurer and the liability case against the at-fault party, whether that is the driver, a vehicle owner, or a commercial defendant. This way, the full picture is documented as one story rather than two.

The sections below explain what compensation may be available, why insurers dispute these injuries, and what shapes the value of a claim.

What Compensation Can You Recover for a Brain Injury in Michigan?

Compensation for a brain injury in Michigan comes from two separate claims, and which one pays for what depends on your coverage and who was at fault. The first is no-fault, which runs through the no-fault auto insurance carrier that applies to your claim, not always your own insurer. The second is a liability claim against the at-fault party, whether that is the driver, a vehicle owner, or a commercial defendant, and it can include an uninsured or underinsured benefits claim against your own insurer when the at-fault driver lacks adequate coverage.

No-Fault PIP Benefits

No-fault personal injury protection can pay for medical treatment and lost wages after a brain injury, but the medical coverage is no longer automatic, and the carrier responsible is not always your own.

Since Michigan’s 2019 no-fault reform, an insured driver chooses a level of PIP medical coverage under MCL 500.3107c, from unlimited down to capped tiers, and a driver with Medicare or qualifying health coverage may opt out of PIP medical entirely under MCL 500.3107d. Which carrier pays, and whether it covers your medical bills or wage loss, depends on Michigan’s no-fault priority rules and the choices made on the applicable policy, so the first step is to check your declarations page and speak with us before assuming a benefit applies.

Third-Party Compensation and the Serious Impairment Threshold

A third-party claim against the party at fault, whether a driver, an owner, or another liable party, is where compensation for pain and suffering becomes available but only if the injury clears Michigan’s legal threshold. Under MCL 500.3135, you can recover non-economic damages such as pain and suffering only if the injury caused death, a permanent serious disfigurement, or a serious impairment of an important body function. Michigan law also recognizes that a closed-head injury can meet that threshold. When a licensed physician who regularly treats closed-head injuries testifies that a serious neurological injury may exist, the question goes to a jury instead of the court deciding it as a matter of law.

Economic losses are treated differently. You can recover medical costs beyond your PIP coverage and lost earnings above the no-fault limits from the at-fault driver, and those excess economic damages are not subject to the same threshold.

Why Insurers Dispute Brain Injuries and How Yours Gets Proven

A brain injury claim often rises or falls on evidence because the symptoms that affect you most are the hardest to show on a standard test. Imaging can come back clean after a concussion or a mild traumatic brain injury, and some carriers treat a normal scan as proof that nothing serious happened.

Proving a brain injury usually means building a record that connects the medical evidence to daily life. Neuropsychological testing, treating-physician records, and accounts from family and coworkers about changes in memory, focus, and mood can show an impairment that a single scan does not. Harris Altman, PC develops this record early before the insurer’s version of events becomes the accepted one.

What Affects the Value of a Brain Injury Claim

Five factors shape the value of a brain injury claim, and there is no fixed formula or reliable “average” that applies across cases.

• Severity and permanence. A lasting cognitive or behavioral change generally supports a larger claim than a full recovery does.
• Medical documentation. Consistent treatment records and objective testing connect the injury to its effects.
• Effect on earning ability. A brain injury that limits the work you can do reaches beyond current wages into future earnings.
• Cost of future care. Therapy, accommodations, and ongoing treatment often continue long after the claim is filed.
• Available coverage. The no-fault benefits available to your claim and the at-fault party’s policy limits, including any UM/UIM coverage on your own policy, shape how much you can recover.

We gather the treating records, work with the medical professionals your case needs, and document how the injury affects your work and daily life. The same factors that shape what a Michigan personal injury case is worth apply here, with the added weight of proving an injury insurers cannot see.

Frequently Asked Questions About Brain Injury Compensation in Michigan

How Long Do You Have to File a Brain Injury Claim in Michigan?

Most third-party injury lawsuits in Michigan must be filed within three years of the crash under MCL 600.5805. The no-fault PIP claim follows separate one-year rules under MCL 500.3145: written notice to your insurer within a year of the crash preserves the claim, and once given, you can recover losses incurred within the year before you file. Because deadlines vary with the facts, take action early.

Can You Recover Compensation for a Brain Injury if You Were Partly at Fault?

Oftentimes, being partly at fault does not end your claim. Under MCL 600.2959, it reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault. If you are found more than 50% at fault, you cannot recover non-economic damages like pain and suffering, but your economic losses are reduced by your share rather than barred entirely.

What if the At-Fault Driver Has Little or No Insurance?

Your own no-fault coverage may still pay benefits, depending on the coverages you selected. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage can help, but in Michigan it is optional and applies only if you purchased it. Two steps protect a possible UM or UIM claim: reporting the crash to the police as soon as reasonably possible and checking your policy for any notice deadline it may set.

Should You Accept the Insurance Company’s First Settlement Offer?

Not before you understand what the injury will cost over time. A brain injury can keep affecting memory, mood, and earning ability long after an early offer is made, and once you settle, you cannot reopen the claim for treatment you later need. Having the offer reviewed against your long-term prognosis protects you from settling for less than the injury is worth.

Get a Free Case Review of Your Michigan Brain Injury Claim

The weeks after a brain injury are when the medical record is built and when early settlement offers tend to arrive. Harris Altman, PC can walk you through where your claim stands and what the injury is likely to cost before you make a decision you cannot undo. Before an early offer closes the door on future care, talking with us can show you what your claim for a brain injury in Michigan is actually worth.

Call Harris Altman, PC at 248-540-3100 or reach us through our contact form to get started. There are no fees unless we recover.