Troy Personal Injury
Mike Heck

Charters, Heck, O'Donnell & Petrulis, P.C. is a six member law firm dedicated to assisting injured individuals. The attorneys are well respected by their peers and have a well-founded reputation for aggressively fighting on behalf of their clients to ensure they are adequately compensated for their injuries. Each attorney is highly skilled and widely experienced in representing injured individuals. Martindale-Hubbell, the national publication that lists and rates all attorneys, gives Charters, Heck, O'Donnell & Petrulis, P.C. the highest rating possible and lists them among the preeminent law firms in the country.

Michael Heck

Mr. Heck was raised in Lincoln Park, Michigan. Prior to graduating with honors from the University of Michigan Law School in 1983, he obtained a Bachelors Degree and a Masters Degree, both with honors, from Michigan State University. Mr. Heck is licensed to practice in a wide variety of courts including the State and Federal Courts in Michigan, California and Texas. He has recieved the highest rating from Martindale-Hubbell and practices in a variety of areas including auto negligence, construction site accidents, worker's compenstions, personal injury and other civil litigation.

Personal Injury in Michigan

When you have been injured by someone else's carelessness, it is important to take some initial steps toward making sure your injury claim can be settled fairly and as quickly as possible:

• Write down everything you can remember about how the injury occurred, including the names, addresses and phone numbers of potential witnesses, police officers, insurance company representatives (or company or workers' compensation representatives if it was a work injury)
• Talk to a Michigan personal injury lawyer before making any statements, written or verbal, to insurance company adjusters or representatives
• Let anyone you think may be responsible for the injury know right away that you are intending to file a claim against them
• Take steps to protect any evidence you may need to prove your injury, such as your totaled car, photographs of an accident or injury scene, clothing you were wearing, damaged personal belongings, and so forth

How Do I Figure Out Who Is At Fault?

In most cases, in order to collect on an injury claim in Michigan, you must prove the person who caused the injury was "negligent" - the person's actions created an unreasonable risk of harm. In Michigan, you must prove:

• The person who caused your injury owed you a duty of care
• The person did not exhibit the amount of care necessary to avoid an injury in the circumstances
• There was a connection between the other person's conduct and your injury
• You suffered damages

Michigan "comparative negligence" law allows you to recover against another person, even if you were also negligent, as long as the other person was more negligent than you. The amount of your recovery will be reduced by a percentage of the amount you were found to be at fault for your own injury. If more than one person was negligent towards you, they are each proportionally responsible to you for their share of the damage that they caused.

If you have been injured using a consumer product, the manufacturer or the seller of the product may be responsible under a "products liability" legal theory if the product was not reasonably safe for use by you. Under Michigan law, you would need to prove that:

• The product had some sort of defect or it did not have adequate warnings, which made it not reasonably safe to use
• The defect or lack of warnings caused your injury
• You suffered damages

What Is My Claim Worth?

Under Michigan law, the person who injured you is responsible for:

• Past, current and future estimated medical expenses
• Time lost from work, including time spent going to medical appointments or therapy
• Any property that was damaged, such as your vehicle
• The cost of hiring someone to do household chores when you could not do them
• Any permanent disfigurement or disability
• Your emotional distress, including anxiety, depression, fright, shock, and any interference with your family relationships
• Physical pain and suffering
• Change in future earning ability due to the injury that you suffered
• Any other costs that were a direct result of your injury

A lawyer will know what type of expert witness to hire to best prove your damages.

How Long Do I Have To File A Legal Claim?

In Michigan, you only have three years to file a lawsuit against the person who injured you. If your lawyer has not been able to come to an agreement with any involved insurance companies, you will definitely want to file a lawsuit before the three-year statute of limitations runs out.