DUI Injury Accident and Insurance

lola1968

New Member
Jurisdiction
Michigan
I know someone who had his 3rd DUI and was in a serious, single car accident where he was severely injured. He was driving a car that belonged to someone else and he did not have a license. The case went to court and he jumped bail the day of sentencing. He has an arrest warrant out for well over a year. I am not sure why they have not caught up with him. He has not moved or anything. Anyway, I see now that he is actually suing the insurance company for damages. I downloaded the suit and he is basically saying they need to provide care and benefits for him for the rest of his life because he is disabled (they canceled his benefits). All this while he is running from a warrant and lying to his family about it.

I am astounded that this went as far as a summons. He had to have lied to his lawyer right? He cannot possibly be entitled to a lifetime of care while committing a felony and now running from it? The insurance company has to know about this, it is public record. I am just interested in feedback as I have been watching this guy scam his way through life.
 
Which insurance company are we talking about? (Not the company name). His auto insurance? His personal health insurance? Health or disability insurance through his employer? What?
 
If you know the whereabouts of wanted absconders, it might be best to report what you know to the police or sheriff.
 
Which insurance company are we talking about? (Not the company name). His auto insurance? His personal health insurance? Health or disability insurance through his employer? What?
The car insurance. It was not in his name but the cars owner.
 
If he is foolish enough to sue the insurance company for this, he will lose.

Why is it any of your business?
 
If he is foolish enough to sue the insurance company for this, he will lose.

Why is it any of your business?
It affects family and people I love who are victims of this narcissist. Plus, I hate his guts and want to see his karma catch up to him. Good enough?
 
Whether he is entitled to benefits under the terms of the insurance policy has nothing to do with the rest of it, nor how much you hate him. Not knowing the terms of the policy, what his medical records show, or anything else, it is impossible to say what he might be entitled to. A DUI is bad but it does not automatically invalidate an insurance claim. Especially if he has not yet been convicted/sentenced of said DUI.

As for why he has not been arrested, we have no idea. My suspicion is that a DUI offender is just not a priority given the resources.
 
He had to have lied to his lawyer right?

We have no independent information about your friend's case.

Is this really the only thing you intended to ask?

It affects family and people I love who are victims of this narcissist.

Why would this person's lawsuit against an insurer have any impact on anyone else?

Ultimately, I'm not sure what the point of your post is.
 
An auto insurance policy *may* be held responsible for initial care and provide a financial settlement towards future care, but I have yet to see or hear of one that provides a disability benefit ongoing.
 
Whether he is entitled to benefits under the terms of the insurance policy has nothing to do with the rest of it, nor how much you hate him. Not knowing the terms of the policy, what his medical records show, or anything else, it is impossible to say what he might be entitled to. A DUI is bad but it does not automatically invalidate an insurance claim. Especially if he has not yet been convicted/sentenced of said DUI.

As for why he has not been arrested, we have no idea. My suspicion is that a DUI offender is just not a priority given the resources.
He plead guilty and just did not show up for sentencing. They revoked his bail and issued a warrant.
 
If his offense is not one that carries jail time then there may be no hurry to go pick him up. You can certainly report his location though and local law enforcement might go serve the warrant. Some warrants can be handled with some paperwork while others will result in arrest. In my area I can handle many of them by issuing a new court date on a promise to appear, just like a traffic ticket.

My point is that the existence of a warrant doesn't necessarily mean he will go to jail.

The lawsuit you describe sounds bogus, but people attempt bogus suits all the time.
 
(Disclosure, I am licensed to practice law in Michigan. We also own a home on Mackinaw Island. My parents always held a great fondness and affection for "The Great Lakes State/Winter-Wonderland".)


$10,000 is the minimum for property damage in Michigan. Only nine other states allow lower limits of liability. PIP, Personal Injury Protection, is the medical portion of a Michigan policy that the auto insurance company is responsible for. In Michigan, insurance carriers are responsible for paying medical coverage up to $500,000.

Learn About the Insurance Requirements in Michigan, the State Minimum

What is PIP insurance in Michigan?
These economic benefits are also called Michigan personal injury protection benefits, PIP benefits and no-fault insurance benefits. They include medical expenses, payment for mileage to and from medical appointments, wage loss, household replacement services and attendant care.

PIP Benefits

There are some important steps you must take in securing your no-fault PIP benefits. First, you must immediately file a no-fault application for benefits with the applicable insurance carrier. This application MUST be filed within one (1) year from the date of the accident, or you will forever lose any benefits to which you might be entitled. Reimbursement for your benefits will not begin until you've filed this application.

Here is a sample application for no-fault insurance benefits from the state of Michigan: https://www.michiganautolaw.com/media/nofault-assignedclaims.pdf

An insured's or victim's auto insurance company may require another version of the above example. Please read about the importance of Medical Care and beware of masked injuries, as you will be asked to describe your injuries on this form. If you have problems filling out this form, please do not hesitate to call Michigan Auto Law at (800) 777-0028.

Secondly, if there are any items of reimbursable expense that are not paid by your insurance carrier, you must file a lawsuit for those particular items within one (1) year from the date the expenses were incurred. If this lawsuit is not filed within that one-year period, you will lose all rights to reimbursement for those expense items.

There are 50 states in this nation, and Michigan has some very unique auto insurance laws and requirements as do the other 11 states and Puerto Rico which have no-fault auto insurance laws.

Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have verbal thresholds.

The other seven states—Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota and Utah—use a monetary threshold.

Background on: No-fault auto insurance | III

In summation, no fault insurance states operate on a different theory of recovery than do the 38 states which don't follow the "no fault" insurance principle.
 
I think the question here is whether the unlicensed driver can reasonably expect coverage from the owner's policy. That seems unlikely to me, especially under the circumstances given.
I suspect that answer is no, and if the owner knew the driver was unlicensed the owner might be SOL for coverage on the vehicle as well.
 
I suspect that the real point to the post is the OP looking for us to reassure her/him that this person s/he hates so much is (a) not going to get his benefits paid for and (b) going to go to jail.

Well, I'm willing to stick my neck out on the first one. Not so much the second.
 
I think the question here is whether the unlicensed driver can reasonably expect coverage from the owner's policy. That seems unlikely to me, especially under the circumstances given.
I suspect that answer is no, and if the owner knew the driver was unlicensed the owner might be SOL for coverage on the vehicle as well.


The State of Michigan was one of, if not the first, the first states which kicked off
non-fault automobile insurance.

If you and Joel collide, your insurer takes care of your property and medical damages.

Joel's insurer does the same for him.

If a driver is unlicensed, that complicates things for the unlicensed person.

No insurance company would insure him, but that doesn't preclude an insurer being responsible for medical care in Michigan.

It's all explained in excruciatingly painful detail above.
 
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