McGowan, Hood and Felder, LLC

People often ask me about the types of insurance someone who is considering buying a motorcycle should buy. I also frequently review insurance policies for my friends, and my clients, and I advise them about their insurance coverage. I am always happy to review someones insurance policy and give them my recommendation. The most important thing to know about motorcycle insurance is that it is different from the insurance for your car. Car insurance is called No Fault insurance, and it is governed by the Michigan No Fault Law. The No Fault Law sets rules and limits on insurance for motor vehicles but that laws definition of the term motor vehicle does not include motorcycles. A lot of bikers do not realize this and think because they have No Fault insurance, they are fully covered if they get into an accident. Too often, they only find out about their lack of coverage after they have been injured in an accident. To register your motorcycle, you will need to provide proof of insurance for at least 20,00040,000 public liability and 10,000 property damage coverage PLPD. Having PLPD means your insurance company will defend you for any claims for personal injury or property damage caused by your negligence. Your insurance company will defend you against these claims and will pay any settlements or judgments against the policy. These amounts are the minimum amounts required by law. Failing to have these minimums can mean significantly more than risking a ticket if you are pulled over by the police. Failing to have PLPD means your insurance company will not defend claims made against you for your negligence and will mean you cannot collect benefits if you are the victim of someone elses negligence. That means you will be on your own to pay for costly medical bills and lost wages. These expenses have forced many uninsured bikers into personal bankruptcy. Whenever people ask me about PLPD, I always encourage them to make sure to insure their motorcycles. I also always recommend that they purchase a policy that adequately protects their assets. For almost everyone, this means purchasing a policy for higher than the minimum amounts required by law. Most people should purchase 100,000300,000 coverage since the cost of purchasing the additional coverage is relatively inexpensive as compared to the cost of purchasing the required 20,00040,000 policy. With a policy like that, you can sure you will be fairly compensated for your injuries and not left facing significant medical expenses for your treatment.Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire
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For Michigan motorcyclists, being involved in a motorcycle accident is a very serious challenge. The number of motorcycle accidents in Michigan has been rising in recent years, and the laws governing motorcycles are complicated. After being treated for any injuries and making a police report, the most important things an injured biker or family member can do is begin submitting claims to the insurance company and deciding whether to pursue a lawsuit. It is important to do these things quickly since insurance companies have filing deadlines after which they can deny benefits and since lawsuits must be filed by the states statute of limitations. My law firms represents people who have been injured in motorcycle accidents, and I often meet people who are unsure of whether a lawyer can help them. Here are answers to some common questions Can I file a lawsuit against an errant and negligent driver if I get involved in a motorcycle crash, and my vehicle is not insured, though I own it? Michigan law permits you to file a lawsuit against this negligent driver. Many people think they cannot because under the Michigan No Fault Act, the driver of an uninsured car cannot sue a negligent driver. Michigan law treats motorcyclists differently from car drivers in this respect. So, even if your bike was not insured, you could still file a lawsuit. I have often heard about the term Uninsured Motorist Coverage. What does it mean? When the accident is caused by a driver who does not have insurance or by a hit and run driver, whose identity is unknown and there is no information available regarding his insurance coverage, Michigan law allows you to recover cost of damages from your own insurance policy if you have uninsured motorist coverage. This means that it makes sense to carry uninsured coverage, to receive protection from your insurance policy, in case you get involved in situations like these. Check back later this week for more about Uninsured Motorist Coverage. What is the difference between uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage? Both types of insurance are very important to add to your policy. Uninsured motorist coverage covers you when the negligent driver has no insurance or when his or her identify is unknown. Underinsured motorist coverage fills in the difference between the costs of your injuries and the maximum amount covered by the negligent drivers insurance policy when he or she does in fact have insurance. Check back later this week for more about Underinsured Motorist Coverage. Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire
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Children with traumatic brain injuries face some of the most difficult challenges a parent or teacher is likely to encounter. Unfortunately, thousands of children suffer traumatic brain injuries each year. The most common causes of traumatic brain injuries among children include car accidents, sport- and play-related injuries, fights or assaults, and falls. If a childs traumatic brain injury is caused intentionally or through the negligence of another person, the parent can normally file a lawsuit to get compensation for the damages the child has suffered. In the educational context, childhood traumatic brain injury has been defined by regulations promulgated pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law aims at providing equal access to education for children with disabilities. The regulations, codified at 34 C.F.R. 300.8c12 define traumatic brain injury as follows: Traumatic brain injury means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Traumatic brain injury applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition language memory attention reasoning abstract thinking judgment problem-solving sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities psychosocial behavior physical functions information processing and speech. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire
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My friends and my clients often ask me about types of insurance they should buy for their motorcycles. I am always happy to review someones insurance policy and give them my recommendation. One question I am frequently asked is whether a biker should purchase Medical Payment insurance. This type of insurance is commonly known as MED PAY. MED PAY pays for medical expenses if you are involved in many types of accidents, including the following: An accident with another motorcycle An accident with no other vehicle, also called a single-bike accident An accident caused by a road defect It is important to note that MED PAY does not pay for medical expenses incurred in an accident between a motorcycle and another motor vehicle like a car or truck. But, in this type of accident, both the driver and the motorcyclist would be able to collect No Fault insurance benefits, which would pay all their medical expenses. MED PAY insurance policies can usually be bought in increments of 5,000.00, up to 25,000.00 in coverage. I recommend bikers purchase as much of this insurance as they can afford to pay. The reason I make this recommendation is because of how the insurance normally works. Typically, MED PAY coverage is the primary insurance for a motorcycle accident, meaning it will pay benefits before your regular health insurance starts to pay. It pays up to the MED PAY policy limit and then your regular health insurance kicks in. Since most people have health insurance through their employer, a sudden layoff or downsizing could leave you with little or even no insurance to cover the cost of your medical bills if you are involved in an accident. If you do not have insurance coverage, you will be personally responsible for paying all of your medical bills. However, MED PAY policies are relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of healthcare.Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire
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Consuming fish caught in Lake Michigan has been linked to diabetes through a chemical byproduct of the pesticide DDT, according to a new study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The study followed Great Lakes boat captains for 15 years. It found that those who ate more finish had more DDE in their blood, a byproduct of DDT, and were more likely to develop diabetes. DDT has been banned in the U.S. for 37 years. But prior to the ban, the pesticide was heavily used in areas around the Great Lakes and still remains in the water, as does its byproduct DDE, because of slow turnover in the lakes. Bruce Fowler of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the CDC said DDE becomes more concentrated as it proceeds up the food chain from small fish to larger fish. How DDE causes diabetes was not determined. Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole
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As a lawyer whose firm represents clients injured in motorcycle accidents, my clients and other individuals often ask me about types of insurance they should buy for their motorcycles. I am always happy to review someones insurance policy and give them my recommendation. Underinsured motorist UIM coverage is one of the most important, but least understood, parts of any insurance package. UIM insurance is similar to uninsured motorist insurance in that both types of policies fills in gaps left open by the failure of another person to fully insure their own negligence. Underinsured motorist insurance is used when a motorcyclist is involved in an accident with an insured vehicle, but the insurance coverage is minimal or insufficient to fully compensate the injured motorcyclist for injuries sustained in the accident. As with uninsured motorist coverage, the injured motorcyclist files a claim with his or her own insurance company to make up for the other drivers shortfall. For example, in Michigan, many drivers only have 20,000 minimum in insurance coverage, which is the minimum amount required by law. Suppose a motorcyclist was involved in an accident with someone who has only 20,000 in coverage and that unfortunately, the motorcyclists medical bills alone cost over 45,000 and the motorcyclist had to miss work for 6 months while undergoing rehabilitation and physical therapy. Without UIM coverage, that motorcyclist could only receive up to 20,000 in compensation for his or her injuries and would have to bear the additional cost of the injuries without any help. But if the motorcyclist had purchased a UIM policy for 500,000, then he or she could claim the difference between their UIM policys limit and the amount that was covered by the other drivers insurance. In this example, that would be up to an extra 480,000. Underinsured motorist coverage is very inexpensive and, as this example shows, is an extremely important part of an insurance package. I always recommend that people purchase a very large amount of UIM insurance since some policies offer 500,000 of coverage for around 80 per year and since there are so many drivers with only the bare minimum level of insurance. If your insurance company does not offer Underinsured Motorists coverage, I strongly suggest that you change to a company that offers UIM insurance. This is often the difference between a fair settlement or a minimal settlement. Every biker in Michigan should request and read our FREE Michigan Motorcycle Insurance Report before getting on his or her bike. It is important to buy the proper insurance coverage before you get into an accident. Once you are in accident, you are stuck with what you were sold, even if you thought you were getting the best coverage at the time.Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire
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My friends and my clients often ask me about types of insurance they should buy for their motorcycles. I am always happy to review someones insurance policy and give them my recommendation. Many people do not have uninsured motorist UM coverage because it is not required by law and is deemed optional. This is very unfortunate because uninsured motorist insurance is extremely important and necessary to fill gaps left by the legally required insurance. To see why, think about what happens when you are involved in an accident. When a motorcyclist is involved in an accident with a car, the motorcyclist would submit a claim to his insurance company for medical expenses, lost wages, household replacement services, and other benefits. In an accident in which the motorcyclist is severely injured, the biker would want to sue for additional damages. For example, lets say his insurance company will pay lost wages for the first three years after an accident, but that the accident was so bad that the biker is permanently disabled and cannot work. He would want to sue the driver for his lost wages for the rest of his life after those three years. Normally, the drivers insurance company would defend this lawsuit and pay for the settlement or judgment, but what happens if the driver does not have insurance? This is where UM insurance comes in. If a motorcyclist is involved in an accident with an uninsured motorist, then the motorcyclist can file a UM claim with his or her own insurance company to collect the damages not covered under a regular policy and they may be able to collect an amount up to the limit of the UM policy they purchased. Because of this, I always recommend bikers purchase the maximum UM coverage available. UM coverage is some of the cheapest kind of insurance available, but it is one of the most important policies you can buy.Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire
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New Source: JusticeNewsFlash.com08272010 WPB, FL, USA Personal Injury Lawyers News Nicole Howley Dallas, TX Following the discovery of two girls, passed out in their showers, the University of Texas Deans of Students Office has subsequently launched an investigation into the incidents. The two girls had reportedly participated in pledging activities for a sorority ...
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New Source: JusticeNewsFlash.com08272010 West Palm Beach, FL, USA Sandra Quinlan Sandra Quinlan Rowland Heights, CAOfficials from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration DEA and Medical Board of California raided the office of a Los Angeles County physician suspected of habitually prescribing potent medications to addicts Wednesday, August 25, 2010. Investigators contended in a federal ...
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New Source: JusticeNewsFlash.com08272010 WPB, FL, USA Personal Injury Lawyers News Nicole Howley Seattle, WAA three-vehicle accident killed two people on Tuesday, August 24, 2010, in the Panther Lake area of Kents East Hill. The fatal crash occurred around 8:46 p.m., in the intersection of Southeast 208th Street and 108th Avenue Southeast, as reported ...
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