Police Brutality & Civil Rights
Wrongful Death & Survival
3 statutes with plain-language summaries, case relevance, source links, and related Michigan practice areas.
Statutory text checked against the Michigan Compiled Laws, complete through PA 16 of 2026, on June 12, 2026.
Wrongful Death & Survival
3 statutes"Whenever the death of a person, injuries resulting in death, or death as described in section 2922a shall be caused by wrongful act, neglect, or fault of another... the person who or the corporation that would have been liable, if death had not ensued, shall be liable to an action for damages."Read Full Statute
Michigan's Wrongful Death Act allows the personal representative of the estate to sue when a death is caused by another's wrongful act, neglect, or fault. Recoverable damages can include medical and funeral expenses, loss of financial support, loss of society and companionship, and conscious pain and suffering before death.
If your family member was killed by police — in a shooting, an in-custody death, or another use of force — the Wrongful Death Act is the foundation of your state-law claim alongside the federal § 1983 civil rights action.
We have obtained multi-million dollar verdicts for families of police violence victims in Michigan, pursuing both state wrongful death claims and federal § 1983 claims simultaneously to maximize recovery.
"All actions and claims survive death. Actions on claims for injuries which result in death shall not be prosecuted after the death of the injured person except pursuant to the next section."Read Full Statute
When a police brutality victim dies — immediately from use of force or later from related injuries — their existing civil rights and personal injury claims survive and transfer to their estate. The estate can recover for the decedent's pre-death pain, suffering, and conscious anguish.
The moments of terror, pain, and awareness before death are legally compensable under the survival statute. This is separate from the wrongful death damages available to the family.
We always assert both survival and wrongful death claims in police-caused death cases to capture every category of recoverable damages for both the victim's estate and surviving family members.
"A person who commits a wrongful or negligent act against a pregnant individual is liable for damages if the act results in a miscarriage or stillbirth by that individual, or physical injury to or the death of the embryo or fetus."Read Full Statute
MCL 600.2922a creates civil liability when a wrongful or negligent act against a pregnant individual results in miscarriage, stillbirth, or physical injury to or death of the embryo or fetus, subject to statutory exceptions.
This statute is not the source for conscious pre-death pain and suffering; that damages category belongs in the Wrongful Death Act analysis. Section 2922a matters when police or other misconduct injures a pregnant person and causes pregnancy-related harm.
We evaluate both the pregnant individual's injury claim and any separate fetal-injury or pregnancy-loss claim under the actual statutory framework.