Procedural Statutes

When two or more people are jointly or severally liable in tort for the same injury, property damage, or wrongful death, Michigan law recognizes a right of contribution among them. This is mostly a dispute among liable parties over who pays what share.

Contribution rules may affect settlement posture in multi-defendant state-law claims, but they do not replace the current fault-allocation and several-liability rules or the separate liability rules that can apply to federal civil-rights claims.

We account for contribution and release issues when structuring multi-defendant settlements while preserving the client's collectible recovery.

If the person entitled to sue is under 18 or legally insane when the claim accrues, Michigan generally gives 1 year after the disability is removed to bring the action even if the ordinary limitations period has run.

Children who are victims of police misconduct may have extra time, but the deadline is not simply 3 years after turning 18. The exact deadline depends on accrual, the underlying claim, and the applicable federal or state tolling rules.

We use tolling for minors to preserve civil rights claims on behalf of children injured by police conduct, even when significant time passes before their family consults an attorney.

If a person dies before the original limitations period runs, or within 30 days after it runs, the personal representative may have 2 years after letters of authority are issued to commence a surviving action. The statute also has an outside limit: the action cannot be commenced later than 3 years after the original limitations period has run.

Families who lose a loved one to police violence may have additional time in some circumstances, but probate timing, the underlying claim, and the outside cap have to be calculated carefully.

We apply the wrongful death savings clause in police brutality death cases where victims survived initially but later died from their injuries, preserving the estate's claim.

If a police department or government agency fraudulently concealed evidence of misconduct — destroying records, filing false reports, or hiding body camera footage — the statute of limitations is tolled until the cover-up is discovered. The plaintiff then has 2 years from discovery.

Police cover-ups are unfortunately not rare. When a department destroys evidence, falsifies incident reports, or conceals misconduct, they cannot then argue your lawsuit is time-barred based on a limitations period that ran while they were hiding their wrongdoing.

We identify and document all instances of evidence destruction, report falsification, and cover-up in civil rights cases, using fraudulent concealment to preserve our clients' claims even when misconduct was hidden for years.

The limitations or repose period may be tolled when the complaint is filed and the summons and complaint are served within the time set by the Michigan Supreme Court rules, when jurisdiction over the defendant is otherwise acquired, or when medical-malpractice notice is given under MCL 600.2912b and the claim would otherwise be barred during the notice period.

This statute can matter in specific filing, service, jurisdiction, and medical-malpractice-adjacent situations. It does not create broad tolling for every delay, and civil rights deadlines still need immediate review.

We analyze all applicable tolling provisions in every civil rights case before making any decision about limitations, ensuring we preserve every possible avenue of recovery.