Traverse City Personal Injury Lawyers

If you’ve been hurt in or around Traverse City, you’re probably juggling a lot at once: medical appointments, time off work, and an insurance company that already has its own plan for your claim. At Neumann Law Group, our Traverse City personal injury lawyers take that pressure off injured people across Grand Traverse County and northern Michigan. We handle the full range of Michigan personal injury claims that come out of this region, from highway crashes on US-31 and M-22 to falls along Front Street and injuries on the water near Grand Traverse Bay. Our office sits at 300 E Front St, with additional Michigan offices in Grand Rapids and Detroit, and we come to you when an injury makes the trip hard.

How Personal Injury Cases Work in Traverse City

Personal injury lawsuits in Grand Traverse County are filed in Michigan’s 13th Circuit Court, which sits in Traverse City and also serves Antrim and Leelanau counties. Claims seeking more than $25,000 proceed in circuit court, while smaller disputes are heard in district court. The Michigan State Police recorded 288,880 traffic crashes statewide in 2024, including 71,316 injuries, a measure of how often these claims arise.

Most of the work happens before anyone files a lawsuit. After a crash or a fall, the early record is what carries the case later: the police report, photos of the scene, medical records that tie the injury to what happened, and statements taken while the details are still fresh. If it’s a no-fault auto claim, you also have to open a Personal Injury Protection file with the right insurer within a year, and that’s the deadline people handling things on their own tend to miss. When a claim can’t be settled with the insurer, it heads into litigation, where the 13th Circuit Court handles discovery, motions, and trial scheduling for the county.

How Does Michigan’s No-Fault System Affect a Traverse City Injury Claim?

Michigan is a no-fault state, so a driver injured in a Traverse City crash first turns to their own Personal Injury Protection coverage for medical bills and wage loss, regardless of who caused the collision. The deadline to apply for PIP benefits is one year from the date of the crash under MCL 500.3145. Suing the at-fault driver for pain and suffering requires meeting the serious impairment threshold in MCL 500.3135.

Michigan’s no-fault system separates two kinds of recovery after an auto injury. The first is Personal Injury Protection, paid by the injured person’s own insurer for medical care, lost wages, and replacement services without regard to fault, subject to the coverage level the policyholder selected after the 2019 reforms (PA 21 of 2019). The second is a tort claim against the at-fault driver, which Michigan allows only when the injury meets the serious impairment of body function threshold under MCL 500.3135. That threshold generally requires an objectively manifested impairment of an important body function that affects a person’s ability to lead their normal life, or a permanent serious disfigurement. The two paths run on separate deadlines and separate rules.

The 2019 reforms let drivers pick their PIP coverage level, from unlimited benefits down to cheaper, stripped-back options. A lot of people chose the lower tiers to save on premiums and never realized what that meant until a serious injury hit. There’s also a mini-tort provision (MCL 500.3135(3)(e)) that lets you recover up to $3,000 in vehicle damage from the at-fault driver, separate from the no-fault system. At Neumann Law Group, we read the actual policy that applies to your case and explain how PIP lines up with your health insurance and other benefits. Our Michigan no-fault insurance guide lays out these rules in full.

What Damages Can Be Recovered in a Traverse City Personal Injury Case?

Recoverable damages in a Michigan personal injury case include economic losses such as medical expenses, lost wages, and replacement services, along with noneconomic damages for pain and suffering. Under Michigan’s modified comparative-fault rule (MCL 600.2959), a claimant found more than 50 percent at fault cannot recover noneconomic damages, and any award is reduced by the claimant’s share of fault.

Economic damages are the costs you can put a number on: emergency treatment, surgery, rehab, future care, and the paychecks you missed. Noneconomic damages cover the part that’s harder to price, the physical pain, the things you can no longer do, and the strain the injury puts on your family. In an auto case, you can only reach those noneconomic damages if your injury clears the serious impairment threshold. Fault is usually the part that’s actually in dispute in northern Michigan crashes, where two-lane roads and winter conditions leave room for competing stories about who was responsible. Our breakdown of comparative fault in Michigan explains how those fault percentages get assigned and how they cut into a recovery.

Medical malpractice claims follow a different damages structure. Michigan caps noneconomic damages in malpractice cases under MCL 600.1483, and that cap is adjusted annually for inflation by the state, so the figure that applies depends on the year the claim is resolved.

What Makes Grand Traverse County Injury Cases Different?

Crashes on northern Michigan corridors like US-31, M-22, and M-72 often involve two-lane roads, seasonal tourist traffic, and winter weather that complicate liability and reconstruction. Grand Traverse County also sees frequent deer-vehicle collisions and a summer population surge tied to events such as the National Cherry Festival, both of which shape how local injury claims are investigated and valued.

Geography shapes a lot of what sets these cases apart. The region’s main hospital, Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, pulls patients in from across a wide rural area, so serious injuries and the records that document them tend to land in one place. Through the long winter, lake-effect snow and ice on routes like M-72 and US-31 feed a steady run of single-vehicle and head-on collisions. Come summer, traffic on the Old Mission Peninsula and around the bay fills up with visitors, and a crash involving an out-of-state driver brings its own questions about coverage and which court hears the case. A Grand Traverse County jury also comes in with its own expectations, and knowing how local jurors tend to see fault and damages is part of getting a claim ready for trial.

How Neumann Law Group Handles Traverse City Personal Injury Cases

At Neumann Law Group, our Traverse City personal injury lawyers build the record early and push each claim as far as the facts will take it. Our attorneys bring more than 200 years of combined experience in personal injury and complex litigation, and some of that came from the defense side, working for insurers. That background tells us how the other side values, defends, and settles these claims, and it shapes how we document damages and answer the moves adjusters make to hold a payout down.

The firm has secured multimillion-dollar recoveries in personal injury matters, including settlements exceeding $9 million and $3.8 million on the eve of trial. Those results reflect the firm’s case history and are not a prediction about any particular claim. With three Michigan offices and additional locations in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, and Denver, we can tap a wider trial network if your case crosses state lines. You can read more about our team of Michigan trial attorneys and the recognitions they’ve earned, including selection to The National Trial Lawyers Top 100.

A strong Traverse City injury claim comes down to preserving evidence early, documenting the full course of medical care, and tracking Michigan’s no-fault deadlines before they run out. At Neumann Law Group, we handle that part so you can put your energy into getting better. To talk it through at no cost, call (800) 525-6386 and a Michigan personal injury lawyer will go over your options with you.

What Is the Deadline to File a Personal Injury Claim in Michigan?

Most Michigan personal injury lawsuits must be filed within three years of the injury under MCL 600.5805. No-fault PIP benefits carry a separate one-year deadline (MCL 500.3145), and medical malpractice claims generally run two years from the act or omission under MCL 600.5838a, subject to a discovery rule and a six-year limit. Missing the applicable deadline usually ends the claim.

These deadlines run on separate clocks, and the shortest one usually decides what you need to do first. If you were hurt in a crash, you might have three years to sue the at-fault driver but only one year to lock in your PIP benefits, and letting that PIP claim lapse can leave you holding large medical bills. Medical malpractice adds a step: before you can file, you have to serve a Notice of Intent at least 182 days out under MCL 600.2912b, and the complaint has to come with an affidavit of merit. Wrongful death claims after a fatal injury fall under MCL 600.2922 and generally follow the same three-year limit.

Related Practice Areas

• Car accidents are the most common source of Traverse City injury claims and turn on Michigan’s no-fault rules and the serious impairment threshold.
• Truck accidents involve federal motor carrier regulations and evidence-preservation demands that differ from ordinary passenger-vehicle crashes.
• Medical malpractice claims carry their own Notice of Intent, affidavit-of-merit, and damages-cap requirements under Michigan law.

Talk to a Traverse City Personal Injury Attorney

If you were injured in Grand Traverse County or anywhere in northern Michigan, the next step is a straight look at where you stand. At Neumann Law Group, our Traverse City personal injury lawyers offer free consultations, we’re available 24/7, and we’ll come to you when an injury makes it hard to travel. Call (800) 525-6386 or contact our office to talk with a Michigan personal injury attorney about what happened.