Friday Feature . . .

prev
next

By Sheila Pursglove

Legal News

Attorney Todd Briggs once used a citrus fruit to win a client close to half a million dollars.

The client, a cyclist, sustained soft tissue damage to his buttock after being struck by a car - and was unable to sit on his rear end during a four-day trial and five-hour deposition. His doctor, whom Briggs used as an expert witness, described the scar tissue as being the size of a lemon.

"Needless to say, we brought in a lemon to hold up and show the jury in our closing argument," Briggs says. "It worked. The case was evaluated for $3,000, which the defendant rejected - and at trial we received a verdict in our client's favor of nearly $400,000, well over policy limits."

All in a day's work for Briggs, a partner since 2000 in Briggs Colegrove, P.C. in downtown Detroit, where he and Sarah Colegrove specialize in civil litigation, insurance defense, personal injury, commercial litigation and probate/estate planning. Briggs also has been appointed to numerous receiverships.

The duo has represented many injured cyclists, and also handled running and pedestrian injuries, motorcycle injuries, climbing injuries and drownings.

"It's rewarding to advocate on behalf of cyclists or for people injured during sports endeavors," Briggs says. "Personal injury cases are interesting because I get to actually guide and assist the injured and their family through a complex process that sometimes takes many years and much hard work before the end result is achieved."

A veteran of more than 1,100 swim competitions, bike races, triathlons, duathlons, aquathons, running events and adventure races, Briggs has personal insight and empathy with his clients' struggles. And he appreciates just how tough his clients can be. One year, he and Colegrove had two separate cases in which a client was out on a final training ride before travelling to an Ironman triathlon. Each client had trained for almost a year, and each was struck by a vehicle turning left directly in front of them without yielding, causing various injuries.

"Both clients were so focused on their Ironman races, one week after their injuries, that they completed 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running even though they each had severe broken collarbones," Briggs says.

According to Briggs, five situations cause the most bike injuries: drivers distracted by texting and phone calls; left turning vehicles failing to yield; vehicles passing too closely; roadway conditions; and vehicles speeding past before making a right turn, sometimes inches in front of a bike.

Briggs gives back to the sporting community through his involvement with the League of Michigan Bicyclists, where for the past 14 years he has authored quarterly articles about bicycle rights and current trends in the no-fault law directly impacting bicyclists, pedestrians, and runners.

One complex area of the law in this area is the Notice and Service Requirements found at MCL 691.1404, Briggs notes.

"We have too many times been retained by a client who sustained personal injury due to the condition of a roadway, sidewalk or bike path - such as a large pothole - and who failed to contact us or some other experienced attorneys as soon as practicable after the injury, thinking instead that they could pursue their rights on their own behalf," he says.

Even though someone typically has three years to bring a personal injury suit, if the action is for injury due to the condition of the roadway, very specific information has to be formally served on a person "who may be lawfully served with civil process directed against the governmental agency" within 120 days before commencing with litigation, Briggs explains.

"We have yet to see a client properly comply with the statute who has contacted us after the 120 days, regardless of their experience or education," he says. "Governmental agencies often hand out their own incident forms and direct you to mail them to a specific person or department or allow you to drop them off in person - but these incident forms usually don't comply with the Notice and Service Requirements."

A competitive swimmer since the age of 7, Briggs grew up competing in many different sports. At age 15 and a high schooler in Venice, Fla., he was a beach lifeguard - and was encouraged by the Sarasota County Beach Patrol to participate in competitions throughout the year, such as open water swims, run-swim-runs, and the "lifeguard ironman" run-swim-run-paddle-run-row-run event.

"I think this led to me participating in extreme sports, including triathlons," he says.

His first triathlon was in 1984 while an undergrad at Michigan State University, and he did the swim portion of a relay. "I wisely waited until after graduating Syracuse Law School to jump into triathlons," he says. "I did my first half-Ironman race in 1989 with little or no training - and haven't stopped."

Briggs has competed in 17 Ironman races, including four Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, his first back in 1996, and the latest being Ironman Texas last May. He has won more than 70 triathlons overall - "It's become a very rare occurrence now that I'm part of the grey brigade and have kids to raise," he says with a smile.

In early September, he placed fourth at the USA Aquabike National Championship in Cedar Point at Sandusky, Ohio, an event comprising a 1.2-mile swim and 56-mile bike ride.

Among his many accomplishments, Briggs set various Michigan Masters Swimming records since 1984, including two records this year at the Ontario Provencial Swimming Championship; and won an event at the YMCA Masters National Swimming Championship. He placed fifth in the FINA Open Water World Championship in the 5-km open water swim; was National Runner-up in the USA Masters Swimming 10-km Open Water National Championship; and National Runner-Up in the 2012 USA Masters Swimming 25-km Open Water National Championship, in Noblesville, Ind.

He has been a USA Triathlon National Champion (Half Ironman distance); a USA Triathlon Mideast Regional Champion in the Olympic and Long Course triathlons multiple times; and placed in the top 10 twice in the World Triathlon Championship. He broke the 10-hour barrier at both the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii and at Ironman USA in Lake Placid, N.Y.; broke 3 hours multiple times in the marathon, including the Detroit International Marathon; and broke 1:18 for a half-marathon.

He qualified for the USA Adventure Racing Association National Championship in 2004 and 2010; competed in a 7-day multi-stage race around Provo, Utah; and placed in many multi-stage races in Michigan, Indiana, Ontario, Ohio, and Kentucky. "Adventure races often include running, hiking, kayaking, canoeing, orienteering, climbing, horseback riding and navigation," he explains.

A native of Jackson, Mich., who now makes his home in Grosse Pointe Farms, Briggs is not the only athlete in the family. His wife Molly competes and trains with the Detroit Women's Rowing Association, has completed a triathlon and raced the 26.2-mile Detroit International Marathon. The couple's sons - Ethan, 14, and Tucker, 10, are competitive swimmers and have set numerous summer league records. Both placed in every event at this summer's State Swim Meet and both competed at the Central Zone Championships held in Geneva, Ohio in August. Both also ran in a recent 5-km running race at the Detroit Zoo and both have competed and won a few triathlons.

Their dad has one last 2014 blast scheduled in coming weeks - kayaking from the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron to the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit. "It's about 60 miles, and it'll be a new adventure," he says. "I haven't done that route before but I've kayaked 8 hours straight in an adventure race of 40 miles or so."

Published: Fri, Oct 10, 2014

––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available