Sterling Heights Personal Injury Lawyers
We Fight the Insurance Companies So You Don't Have To
From the moment you are injured in an accident, the insurance company on the other side begins building a case to minimize what they will pay you. They have entire departments of adjusters, investigators, and defense attorneys whose only job is to undervalue your claim. At Serafini, Michalowski, Derkacz & Associates, we have spent decades on the opposite side of that table — and we know exactly how their playbook works.
Our personal injury attorneys in Sterling Heights have litigated hundreds of cases across Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne Counties. We have obtained significant verdicts and secured substantial settlements for clients who were initially told their claims were worth nothing. We do not back down, we do not settle cheap, and we treat every case as if it is going to trial — because that is the only way to make insurers take it seriously.
Understanding Michigan's No-Fault Auto Insurance System
Michigan operates under a unique no-fault insurance system that can be confusing even for experienced attorneys. Under this system, your own insurance company pays for your medical expenses and lost wages after a car accident — regardless of who was at fault. However, you may still have the right to sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering if your injuries meet a serious-impairment threshold defined by Michigan law and developed through decades of court decisions.
The 2019 reforms to Michigan's no-fault law added new complexity, new coverage tiers, and new deadlines that can permanently affect your rights if you miss them. Choosing the wrong PIP option, missing a one-year-back filing window, or signing the wrong release can erase benefits you would otherwise be entitled to. Our attorneys are intimately familiar with these rules and make sure every deadline is met and every benefit you are owed is pursued.
Decades of Experience Across Every Major Injury Case
Michigan personal injury law spans many fact patterns, and SMDA has handled the full range. Distracted-driving collisions on I-94 and M-59, multi-vehicle pileups in winter weather, and rear-end crashes at busy Sterling Heights intersections form the largest part of our caseload, but they are far from the only injuries we represent. We routinely litigate trucking cases governed by federal motor-carrier regulations, motorcycle crashes where biased assumptions about riders complicate recovery, and pedestrian and bicycle injuries that demand quick scene preservation.
We also handle premises liability matters that have grown more complex since the Michigan Supreme Court reshaped the open-and-obvious doctrine in 2024. Whether the injury happened in a grocery store, an apartment complex, a parking lot, or a commercial building, our team knows how to investigate the property, identify the responsible party, and frame the case under current Michigan precedent. Catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and dog-bite claims round out a practice that has been litigated and won — without interruption — for more than two decades.
What Compensation Can You Actually Recover?
In a Michigan personal injury case, full compensation is far more than the medical bills already in your mailbox. You may be entitled to recover past and future medical expenses, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium for your spouse and family, replacement-services costs, and in cases of egregious conduct, exemplary damages. Each of these categories has its own evidentiary requirements, and overlooking any one of them leaves money on the table.
Our attorneys evaluate every aspect of your damages — not just what you have already spent, but what your future actually holds. An injury that affects your ability to work for years, or that changes the kind of work you can do at all, deserves compensation that reflects that economic reality, not just today's hospital invoices. We work with treating physicians, vocational experts, and life-care planners to quantify long-term losses with precision so the demand we present is grounded in evidence the defense cannot easily dismiss.
How We Build a Case That Wins
Strong outcomes start with fast, thorough investigation. Within hours of being retained, our team begins preserving evidence that disappears quickly: surveillance footage that gets overwritten, skid marks washed away by the next rainstorm, witnesses whose memories fade, and electronic data from vehicles that can be deleted in routine repairs. We send spoliation letters, dispatch investigators to the scene, and secure the records that will later anchor the liability story at trial.
From there, we layer in medical records, police reports, employment and wage documentation, and expert analysis from accident reconstructionists, biomechanics specialists, and treating physicians. The result is a case file the defense cannot pick apart — one that drives higher settlement offers and, when necessary, persuades juries. Insurance carriers know which firms prepare for trial and which firms posture and fold, and SMDA has earned a reputation as the former.
Local, Trial-Tested, and Always Accessible
Choosing the right personal injury attorney is one of the most consequential decisions you will make after a serious accident. The billboard firms that handle thousands of cases at a time often hand your matter to a paralegal you will never meet, push for a quick settlement, and move on. SMDA is built differently. We are a Sterling Heights firm staffed by attorneys who try cases in the same courtrooms where your case will be filed, and you will speak directly with the lawyer handling your file from intake through resolution.
Our contingency-fee structure means there is no cost to begin. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you, and the initial consultation is always free. When you call SMDA, you reach a real person, you get an honest evaluation of your case, and you get a team that has been winning Michigan personal injury cases since 2006 — not just taking them.
Why Calling Sooner Always Beats Calling Later
Michigan's statutes of limitations are strict, and several apply at once in a typical injury case. The general personal injury limitations period is three years, but the no-fault one-year-back rule limits how far back PIP benefits can be claimed, governmental-immunity notice provisions can require written notice within 120 days, and dram-shop and wrongful-death claims have their own timelines. Missing any one of these deadlines can permanently eliminate a portion — or all — of your recovery, no matter how strong the underlying facts are.
Beyond the legal deadlines, the practical evidence window is even shorter. Surveillance video is typically overwritten in days or weeks, vehicle data modules are wiped during repair, and witness recollection erodes quickly. The earlier our team is involved, the more of the story we can preserve and the stronger your case becomes. If you have been injured, the most valuable thing you can do today is start the conversation — there is no obligation, and the first call is always free.