Sommers Schwartz attorney Michael Cunningham filed a personal injury lawsuit for a Washtenaw County man and a passenger in his vehicle after a driver making a left turn failed to yield and struck their car, injuring them both.
On November 19, 2025, the two plaintiffs were traveling eastbound near an Ann Arbor intersection. The at-fault driver was traveling westbound on the same road when she slowed to make a left turn. Rather than waiting for the oncoming vehicle to clear the intersection, she turned directly into its path.
Michigan law specifically requires a driver intending to make a left turn at an intersection to yield the right of way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction that is within the intersection or close enough to pose an immediate hazard. The complaint alleges the at-fault driver violated that statute by turning in front of an oncoming vehicle that had the right of way. She also failed to maintain a proper lookout, failed to keep control of her vehicle, and did not apply her brakes in time to prevent the collision.
The crash caused serious injuries to both occupants of the struck vehicle. The driver sustained a burst fracture of his first lumbar vertebra, a severe spinal injury in which the vertebra is compressed with such force that it shatters, potentially driving bone fragments toward the spinal cord. He also suffered a concussion and damage to surrounding muscles, tendons, ligaments, and soft tissue.
The passenger sustained a concussion, two fractured ribs, and trauma to both her lower spine and cervical spine, along with injury to the surrounding muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves. She, too, has been left with chronic pain, reduced mobility, disability, and emotional distress, and has lost her ability to participate fully in the normal activities of daily life.
The lawsuit names both the at-fault driver and the vehicle’s owner as defendants, jointly and severally. The vehicle was owned by a third party who permitted the driver to use it, making the owner vicariously liable under Michigan’s owner liability statute. Both injured plaintiffs seek compensation for their past and future medical expenses, lost wages, and diminished earning capacity, as well as damages for their pain, disability, and loss of enjoyment of life.
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