Lyons, MI Personal Injury Law Firms & Lawyers

One cannot determine the value of her potential claim at this point. As you said, it just happened a week ago, and you don't know how long she will be hurt. For example, will she treat for 3 weeks or 6 months? Will she have any permanent injury as a result? What are her medical bill costs? Does she have lost wages? These are all questions that must be answered to properly ascertain the true value of her pain and suffering claim. I suggest you contact an experienced attorney for a free consultation.

You can sue them in small claims court, but the filing fee is typically around $500 and unless you can prove to a county court judge that they did it, you're wasting your money. Just because you "know they did it" probably will not meet the burden the judge will impose on you.

You bring up an important point. Many folks simply don't have the time, or inclination, to be informed on these matters and simply leave it up to their legislators to make the laws about who can sue and for what and what is required to bring such a suit. In Michigan, the legislators have made medical malpractice cases a very onerous and difficult proposition. Subsequently, Michigan judges and juries have made such cases even harder to pursue. Experts are required and are costly. These cases are vigorously defended, probably because the statistics show that they are not easily won by the Plaintiff. Further, one of the tactics of the insurers and defense firms in defending them to the death, is to make them very expensive to pursue. Thus most lawyers will not take these cases unless there is relatively clear malpractice and the damages are serious, for in small damages cases the recovery likely will not even pay for the costs of the litigation. So in my opinion, in Michigan, the "blame" lies with the public in who they elect to the legislature and the bench, and with jurors who routinely side with the doctors and hospitals, such that the climate is that these cases are hard and expensive to pursue. It seems the last thing people care about any more is fairness or justice. Of course, the real bottom line is money and the insurers and doctors and hospitals have lots of it and lobby quite effectively to take away your access to justice.