Practice Areas

Automobile Accidents

Michigan has what is termed a "No Fault" statutory insurance scheme. In our state, each motorist is required to insure his own vehicle for liability coverage (mandatory) and for collision (voluntary).

Included in your no-fault insurance are PIP benefits. PIP stands for Personal Injury Protection. These benefits cover your own medical care costs associated with any accident. The benefits cover you for your entire life as long as the medical care you receive is directly as a result of an automobile accident.

In addition, PIP benefits provide you with wage-loss coverage for up to three years after your accident. Consequently, your own insurance company has to compensate you for any time lost from work as a result of an automobile accident. Your own company will continue to pay you a percentage of your lost wages for up to three years after the accident provided that you cannot work or must work in a lower paying job as a result of the accident.

Your own insurance company may refuse to pay your medical expenses and/or your wage losses. If so, you should contact an attorney immediately. Your PIP benefits entitle you to those benefits.

If your injury is serious enough (creating a serious impairment of a bodily function), you are also entitled to sue the person responsible for the accident. This could mean the driver of the car you were in or the driver of another vehicle which caused the accident. You can sue a negligent driver for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of use of a part of your body, and for lost wages which extend beyond the three-year PIP benefits.

So, if you are injured in an automobile accident and the accident has caused you to be taken to a hospital or has caused you to seek medical attention, you should contact an attorney. Also, it is important to contact an attorney immediately so that pictures of the scene of the accident and the accident itself can be taken. Letting even a small period of time elapse before calling an attorney can mean that the accident scene will never be recorded on film.

Call C. Michael Villar if you or someone you love has been injured in an automobile accident. Immediately, C. Michael Villar will put his experience to work to make sure you are compensated for your injuries. Remember, any delay in calling an attorney is too much delay.

Criminal Law

Anyone who has watched a "B-Grade" detective movie knows what Miranda warnings are: "anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." However, most people don’t realize that the police do not have to Mirandize you until you are arrested AND they are asking questions. As long as you are not under arrest, the police are free to question you all they want. Even after you are under arrest, the police can use any statements you make and they don’t have to read you your Miranda warnings until they start asking you questions.

Most people charged with crimes make the mistake of talking to the police. The police have no obligation to tell you the truth, nor do they have any authority to "cut a deal" for you. The only person who can make any type of binding "deal" is a prosecuting attorney. The police can only speak to the prosecutor about what they think is a good deal. Once a person has spoken to the police or confessed, they typically find out that they did not help themselves at all and that the police have charged them with the highest crime possible. Moreover, once a person has confessed, it is nearly impossible to raise a defense to the charges.

The best advice for anyone charged with a crime or potentially charged with a crime is to immediately call an attorney. Simply tell the police, "I would like to help, but first I need to speak to my attorney."

The next best advice is to hire someone with experience to defend you. You want a person who knows and understands the system and who can tell you what to expect. My experience in criminal law includes eight life-offense trials (plus numerous life-offense cases, which ended with positive plea bargains). I have done literally hundreds of other lesser felony defenses as well. My trial record is extremely good (although you should not use my track record to conclude that your case will have the same results), and there are many people who will provide you with personal testimonies as to how they feel about my representation.

Family Law

Divorce is running rampant in our society. Every divorce leaves a trail of scarred and damaged adults and, unfortunately, many leave a swath of scarred and damaged children. Undoubtedly, a divorce is one of the most stressful things that can happen to a person. Recent literature suggests that getting a divorce is only slightly less stressful than having a spouse die.

In Michigan, divorce is "no-fault." That means that a person simply has to get in front of a judge and inform the judge that there has been a breakdown in the marriage relationship and that there remains no hope that the marriage can be preserved and a divorce is granted! However, a trial court in Michigan can look at the relative fault of the parties in the breakup of a marriage when deciding issues of property settlement and child custody/visitation.

C. Michael Villar employs various private investigators in his family law practice, making sure that if your spouse is having an affair, it will be found out. Mr. Villar is also very aggressive in asserting your rights as a parent so that you will receive the custody and visitation times that are in the best interests of your child.

In addition to fighting hard for your rights, Allegan Law Offices has developed relationships with both secular and Christian counsellors to help with the grief, anger, depression, and sense of loss associated with divorce.

Allegan Law Offices also practices in the Family Law areas of custody disputes, visitation disputes, establishing paternity, and Family Independence Agency claims of abuse and neglect.

Personal Injury/Wrongful Death

Where do you go when you or someone you know has been seriously injured or even killed? How do you make someone responsible for their actions when those actions have had devastating effects on you or someone you love?

The law states that when a person is negligent and that negligence causes another person to be injured, the person so injured has a right to recover money damages to compensate for injuries suffered. Quite often, the issue in a lawsuit is not whether there was negligence, but how much money will it take to compensate for the injuries suffered.

Personal injury and wrongful death cases also often require expert testimony from accountants and actuaries to help a jury determine the amount of damages to award. These cases also require the testimony of doctors and/or surgeons to establish the nature and extent of the injury. Because of the high cost of litigating these types of cases, many clients choose a "contingent fee" structure which allows the attorney to be paid a percentage of the recovery after first deducting the costs of litigation from the amount awarded.

When you or someone you love is injured, please contact an attorney immediately. Photographs of the scene of the injury are critical, and waiting several days to contact an attorney might mean that no photographs of the accident or scene of the accident are ever taken. In addition, it is critical to obtain the names and addresses of anyone who was a witness to the accident or incident, which caused the injury. C. Michael Villar conducts home or hospital visits and has private investigators who will immediately begin an investigation of the accident or incident.