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Court Of Appeals Affirms Summary Disposition Obtained By Michael F. Schmidt In Multi-Vehicle Auto Accident Case

David W. Allard, as Trustee of the Bankruptcy Estate of Laura J. Wilamowski v Joseph A. Sova, Clarkston Steel, Inc., State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Conrad C. Wilamowski and Mirash Bojaj, Michigan Court of Appeals docket number 285633, the Court of Appeals affirmed summary disposition we obtained in the trial court for defendants Sova and Clarkston Steel. The plaintiff brought suit against multiple defendants alleging injuries incurred in a multi-vehicle accident. The plaintiff claimed that she had a lumbar laminectomy and total and permanent disability from prior cervical fusions as a result of the accident. The plaintiff claimed that Sova was negligent by failing to stop his truck and having to go on the shoulder to avoid a rearend accident. We argued that defendants, Sova and Clarkston Steel, had no liability and that Sova’s truck was knocked into the median by another vehicle. We further argued that there was no basis to argue that any actions of Sova could have proximately caused any injury to the plaintiff. The plaintiff was an occupant in a vehicle on the opposite side of M-59 which allegedly had to change lanes to avoid a potential accident with the Sova truck, which the plaintiff claimed was coming toward the plaintiff’s lane. The Court of Appeals affirmed summary disposition granted by the trial court holding that the alleged evasive maneuver by the plaintiff’s vehicle was unremarkable and could not be proximately caused by the negligence of the defendants.