Getting Plowed by the State of Michigan

It all started on a cold winter morning in Michigan, most stories start that way because most mornings are cold and wintery in Michigan. I was on my way to work at the lovely Club Borgess, of course I had a smile on my face because why wouldn't I at 6:45am while sitting in a freezing cold 1991 Honda Civic. This trip to work was no different than any other one at this time of year, the roads were terrible and the snow was as heavy as my Aunt Martha. I stopped at the stop sign at the end of my road and waited to enter onto a larger four lane state road. Just like my mom taught me when I was 5, I looked both ways. When I looked to my left I saw a huge State of Michigan snow plow clearing the roads. I thought to myself "Thank heavens for all of the those hard working snow plow drivers and the fine attention to detail they use in their jobs."

"Ok Quentin prepare yourself to get a little spray by this snow plow" I reminded myself. As the snow plow pasted it deposited enough snow to feed five families ice cream for a year directly onto my car. The force of the snow shattered my drivers window sending tiny little shards of glass into my car and, more importantly, into my face. My first thought was "what in the world just happened? did I just get hit in the face by a shovel?" I looked around the interior of my snow filled car, it seemed like I was in an igloo with glass sprinkled in. I put my car in reverse and headed back home, I couldn't go to work in drenched clothes and my face felt like it was swelling to the size of a Ron Artest's suspension. When I got home I thought I had better let my wife know what happened, really I just wanted her to say "It is ok Quentin, let me clean you up, poor baby". Weelllll, it turns out what I thought was melting snow running down my face was really blood. My wife was in for quite a shock when a bloody faced man tapped her on her should and woke her from a dead sleep. My wife sprang out of bed as if I set it on fire and quickly started helping me the best way she knew how, she paniced. After my wife, Kasey, stopped freaking out she got a cold wash cloth and started to clean my face off. Now is the part in the story you may be asking yourself, "what did the state do about all of this". Well, now it was time for me to make about as many calls as a NBA official. I called the Police, I called the state road commission, I called my insurance, I called work, I call my parents, I called the body shop,I called ghostbusters. Basically all these calls added up to a whole lot of work and waiting for me. Now i had to get the curing wheels in motion, I went to the doctor so he could make sure there wasn't any glass in my hair, ears, and nose, which there was. Then I had to tally up all my bills. The body shops estimates = $1300
Dr. copay = $10.00
loss of wages = $134.00
work clothes = $40.00
I of course keep all the reciepts because I expect to get paid in full. So I call the state road commission guy and he tells me, "We only pay up to $1000 in damage if you don't like it, you can take it to court". He said it in a "good luck trying to take a state run program to a state run court and winning" kind of way. So what do I do, just take the $1000 and the rest in the tale pipe? Do I get a lawyer and really make a case of this with the injury and neglegence and punitive damage and, "I want $40,000!!!", stance? Do I represent myself and go to small claims court and fight the corperate juggernaught of the state of Michigan? That is where the story is at this point, if there are any lawyers out there reading this, please, some advice would help right about now. I am going to think this over for a few days, maybe weeks while my interest free credit card takes care of the damages. Then, I will take action. The story will continue in the next installment of Getting Plowed by the State of Michigan!