I've been around long enough to remember what pure tort liability was like before no-fault. Pure tort means no meaningful rehabilitation for injuries because it takes years to get the money to pay for it.....
House Republicans, including Rep. Lana Theis (R-Brighton), chair of the House Insurance Committee and sole sponsor of the defeated Theis-Duggan-Leonard No Fault plan, introduced a package of bills, including House Bill 5517 and House Bill 5518which, if passed, would make the following changes to Michigan’s auto insurance laws:
- Michigan’s 45 year experiment with No Fault ends.
- Michigan becomes a pure tort liability state, meaning that car accident victims can sue an at-fault driver who causes a car accident for all of their economic and non-economic losses. There will no longer be a threshold test for pain and suffering claims as there currently is, and the wrongdoer driver is now responsible for all of a victim’s medical expenses, attendant care, wage loss and vehicle damage that he or she causes. The majority of states in the country today are considered pure tort liability states.
- Even though drivers would no longer be entitled to catastrophic injury coverage after a car crash, they would still have to pay annual assessments to the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association.
- The only auto insurance that Michigan drivers would be required to carry is liability insurance with 20/40/10 policy limits.
On Monday, I wrote a more critical analysis of what No Fault repeal will look like, and who some of the winners and losers may be if a No Fault repeal is enacted and Michigan becomes a pure tort liability state.