Damage Caps & Recovery Limits

If you are injured on the job, workers' compensation is generally your exclusive remedy against your employer — you cannot also sue them in tort. However, the exclusive remedy does NOT protect third parties (equipment manufacturers, property owners, other contractors) whose negligence contributed to your injury.

The exclusive remedy bar limits what you can collect from your employer, but it does not prevent a separate, potentially much larger tort claim against third parties who were also responsible for your injury.

We routinely identify third-party tort claims running parallel to workers' compensation benefits, giving our clients the opportunity to recover far more than comp alone would provide.

Michigan caps noneconomic damages (pain, suffering, disability, loss of enjoyment of life) in medical malpractice cases. For 2026, the standard post-1993 cap is $596,400, the enhanced severe permanent-injury cap is $1,065,000, and the pre-October 1, 1993 malpractice cap is $626,400. Economic damages — actual financial losses — are not capped.

The applicable cap depends on the claim date and whether the injury falls within the higher statutory categories. The annual amounts are published by the Michigan Department of Treasury / State Treasurer, including the 2026 notice dated January 30, 2026.

We build detailed economic damage cases using forensic economists, life-care planners, and vocational experts to maximize recovery when noneconomic caps limit pain and suffering awards.

Michigan caps noneconomic damages in product liability cases, with a higher cap if the defect caused death or permanent loss of a vital bodily function. For 2026, the post-1993 noneconomic cap is $596,400, the higher cap is $1,065,000, and product-liability economic damages that are not readily ascertainable are determined using the adjusted statutory median-family-income figure of $97,770. Other provable economic damages remain recoverable under the statute's framework.

When a defective product causes severe injury, the noneconomic cap can significantly limit pain and suffering recovery. The 2026 amounts were published by the Michigan Department of Treasury / State Treasurer in the January 30, 2026 notice, so current cap analysis matters.

We build strong economic damage cases in product liability matters, including future care costs, reduced earning ability, and all other economic losses, to maximize total recovery.

A person seeking to establish fault under Michigan's comparative-fault provisions has the burden of alleging and proving that fault. The statute also says those provisions do not create a separate cause of action.

This provision matters when defendants try to allocate fault to a plaintiff, party, or nonparty. It is not a periodic-payment or judgment-interest statute.

We require defendants to prove fault allocation with evidence and challenge unsupported attempts to reduce recovery through comparative-fault arguments.

MCL 600.6098 requires judges in medical-malpractice cases to review verdicts for application of the noneconomic-damages cap. It also addresses judicial review of verdicts in personal-injury actions, including new trial, additur, and remittitur issues.

After a verdict, this statute can affect whether an award is reduced, adjusted, or retried. It is not Michigan's judgment-interest statute.

We preserve the trial record, defend supported verdicts, and address cap, remittitur, additur, and new-trial arguments after verdict.

After a plaintiff verdict in a personal-injury case, the court may consider whether certain economic losses were paid or are payable by a collateral source, then reduce the economic-loss portion of the judgment under the statute's rules. Premium payments, liens, subrogation rights, and whether the benefit is actually payable all matter.

Collateral-source disputes can affect the final judgment after a verdict, especially where health insurance, workers' compensation, Medicare, employee benefits, or contractual liens are involved.

We document benefit sources, premium payments, lien claims, and subrogation issues so any collateral-source reduction is applied correctly and no recoverable damages are lost.

Michigan's no-fault system limits tort recovery for noneconomic loss from motor vehicle accidents to cases involving death, serious impairment of body function, or permanent serious disfigurement. Serious impairment means an objectively manifested impairment of an important body function that affects the injured person's general ability to lead their normal life.

This threshold is the most frequently litigated issue in Michigan car accident cases. Insurance companies routinely deny that injuries meet the threshold. Documenting how your injuries affect your daily life is essential.

We build detailed impairment records for every car accident client, working with treating physicians and life-function experts to establish serious impairment in even difficult cases.