Michigan’s Helter-Skelter Landscape of NoFault PTSD Cases Belies Science PROFESSOR BRAD CHARLES124 Abstract A lyric from the early 1900s goes like this: Perhaps you’re broke and paralyzed Perhaps your memory goes But it’s only just called shell shock For you’ve nothing there that shows.125 Most Michigan cases, even in the past decade, agree with this centuryold belief that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not real because there’s “nothing there that shows.” These outdated beliefs bely current, corroborated, and credible scientific studies about PTSD. In fact, one gets the sense while reading these cases that those who have PTSD from auto accidents need an exorcism rather than competent medical care. For a plaintiff with PTSD from a severe auto accident to recover noneconomic damages, they must prove that they suffered “serious impairment of body function.”126 It’s defined as “an objectively manifested impairment of an important body function that affects the plaintiff’s general ability to lead a normal life.”127
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Professor Charles teaches all things writing at WMU-Cooley: Research & Writing, Advocacy, and Scholarly Writing. He also teaches international law classes and co-coaches the Jessup International Law Moot Court team. Before joining Cooley, Professor Charles dabbled in labor law and condominium law. Then he was honored to serve as a judicial attorney for the 21st Circuit Court in Isabella County, Michigan. Since then, he’s maintained a steady pro bono and low-fee practice. He has written several articles, authored an online course for learning legal research, and written a book on the U.S. Supreme Court’s reasoning techniques. 125
BEN SHEPARD, A WAR OF NERVES: SOLDIERS AND PSYCHIATRISTS TWENTIETH CENTURY 74 (Harvard University Press 2003). 126 MICH. COMP. LAWS § 500.3135(1) (2019). 127 Id.
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