Dashcam evidence helped tell the story. The fight for coverage addressed the consequences.
Michigan truck accident lawyer Joseph Dedvukaj secured $1.8 million in personal injury protection (PIP) settlements to date, plus a separate $50,000 uninsured motorist (UM) policy-limits settlement, for a commercial truck driver who suffered a leg amputation and other catastrophic injuries.
The commercial insurance carrier disputed priority of coverage, challenged fault, and sought to reduce wage-loss benefits based on the driver’s tax returns. The Joseph Dedvukaj Firm, P.C., pursued the claims through those disputes.
The combined recovery totals $1.85 million to date. Future PIP benefits remain open.
The Crash: A Slow-Moving Trailer, Barely Visible Taillights, and a Driver Who Fled
On August 10, 2023, our client was transporting freight near Kingman, Arizona, in a Michigan-registered semi-truck.
Dashcam footage showed our client traveling at the posted speed limit. Ahead of him, another tractor-trailer was moving very slowly with barely visible taillights. Our client clipped the rear of that trailer, lost control, and crashed.
The other tractor-trailer fled the scene. Although the dashcam recorded the collision, the video was not clear enough to identify the fleeing truck or trailer.
For our client, the consequences were devastating. Emergency responders had to cut away part of his truck to free him from the wreckage. His injuries included:
- Amputation of his left leg.
- Fractures of both femurs.
- A serious right-hand fracture requiring surgery.
- Traumatic brain injury.
The crash left him with permanent disabilities, extensive medical and rehabilitation needs, and an inability to return to commercial truck driving.
Dashcam Evidence Addressed the Insurer’s Fault Allegations
The commercial insurer alleged that our client had fallen asleep at the wheel.
The dashcam provided a recorded account of the road conditions and collision: our client’s travel at the posted speed limit, the slow-moving trailer ahead, its barely visible taillights, and the contact preceding the loss of control.
That evidence gave our firm a concrete basis to address the insurer’s account of the crash. Although the footage could not identify the hit-and-run tractor-trailer, it preserved important evidence about how the collision occurred.
The camera could not name the fleeing driver. It could help explain the crash.
Fighting Over Which Insurance Policy Had to Pay
The case also involved a dispute over priority of Michigan no-fault insurance coverage—which insurer was responsible for paying our client’s PIP benefits.
The litigation involved the commercial truck insurer and our client’s personal auto insurer. Our firm developed the evidence concerning the insured truck, the driver’s working relationship, and the applicable coverage while pursuing benefits for his catastrophic injuries.
The PIP recovery included compensation for:
- Medical bills.
- Wage loss.
- Household replacement services.
- Home modifications.
- Attendant care.
These claims addressed the financial consequences of the crash, from lost earnings to the assistance and accommodations our client needed in daily life.
The Wage-Loss Dispute: Looking Beyond the Tax Return
The carrier also sought to reduce wage-loss compensation by relying on trucking expenses reported on our client’s tax returns, where he had identified himself as an independent contractor.
Our firm examined the actual working arrangement behind those filings. Our client worked exclusively for a third-party trucking company. The company provided the semi-truck equipment, reimbursed expenses, and gave him pickup and delivery instructions.
Those facts mattered to the dispute over his earnings and the insurer’s proposed deductions. Our firm challenged the carrier’s attempt to calculate wage loss from the tax-return expenses without accounting for how the trucking company supplied equipment, reimbursed costs, and directed the work.
For an injured commercial driver, understanding the working relationship can be essential to documenting the income lost after a disabling crash.
The Settlement: $1.8 Million in PIP, Plus $50,000 in UM Benefits
The Joseph Dedvukaj Firm, P.C., secured two separate recoveries:
| Claim | Recovery |
|---|---|
| Michigan PIP settlements to date | $1,800,000 |
| Commercial-policy uninsured motorist settlement | $50,000 — full UM policy limits |
| Combined recovery to date | $1,850,000 |
Future PIP benefits remain open. The $1.8 million settlement addressed benefits through the period resolved; it did not close our client’s claim for future PIP benefits.
The separate $50,000 UM settlement exhausted the commercial policy’s uninsured motorist limit. That limit represented the available UM coverage, rather than the full measure of our client’s catastrophic losses.
Michigan Truck Accident Lawyer for Catastrophic Injury and Disputed Insurance Claims
This case required attention to several connected issues: dashcam evidence, an unidentified hit-and-run tractor-trailer, disputed insurance priority, catastrophic medical needs, and a contested wage-loss calculation.
The Joseph Dedvukaj Firm, P.C., based in Bloomfield Hills, represents injured people throughout Michigan in truck accident, car accident, catastrophic injury, PIP, and uninsured motorist cases.
If you or a family member suffered serious injuries in a semi-truck crash, contact The Joseph Dedvukaj Firm, P.C. to discuss the accident, available insurance coverage, and evidence that may support your claim.
You Hire Joe. You Get Joe.
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case depends on its facts, available insurance coverage, and applicable law.