Let Us Put Our Experience & Expertise
to Work For You
The mission of our firm MacDonald, FitzGerald & MacDonald, P.C. since 1938 has been to represent and assist injured and disabled workers and their families throughout Michigan.
The founder of our firm, Attorney Robert James MacDonald, served as a Democratic Representative and Senator from Flint in the Michigan Legislature, chaired the Workers' Compensation Section of the State Bar of Michigan and was appointed by Governor George Romney to his Advisory Commission on Workers' Compensation. He, the late John J. FitzGerald, and the current members of the firm, R. Duncan MacDonald, Timothy J. MacDonald and Robert John MacDonald have fought zealously for seven decades to secure benefits for injured workers, including benefits for thousands of General Motors' employees in the Flint area.
The firm continues its tradition of fighting to secure whatever benefits, rights, remedies and damages we can for our clients suffering from injury or disability.
The attorneys in our firm today have more than seventy years of combined experience in fighting for the injured and disabled. We fight for our clients by offering legal advice and by representing our clients in Litigation, Trials, Appellate Practice and Negotiations. We are licensed to General Practice in the District, Circuit, and Appellate Courts of the State of Michigan, its Administrative Agencies, and in the Federal Courts.
We assist our clients by fighting to secure Workers' Compensation Weekly Benefits, Medical Care, Vocational Retraining and Tuition, Specific Loss Benefits and Lump Sum Settlements.
We assist injured and disabled clients when they face Disability Discrimination or suffer Retaliatory Discharge.
We assist clients in securing Social Security Disability, SSI, Short and Long Term Disability Benefits and Disability Pensions for our disabled clients.
We represent clients injured on, and off, the job in Personal Injury and Negligence claims against those responsible for the injuries. We fight for those injured in Work Accidents, Automobile Accidents, Motorcycle Accidents, Trucking Accidents, Construction Site Accidents, Aviation Accidents, Boating Accidents, Slip and Fall Accidents and those injured by Defective Products.
PUBLISHED WORKS
"Workers' Compensation Cases" in Michigan Basic Practice Handbook, Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Robert John MacDonald, 2006-present
"Workers Comp: A Few Facts Worth Knowing for the Non-Practitioner" Genesee County Bar Association, BarBeat, July/August 2007.
To view or purchase published works, click here *********************************************************************
"Can Delphi Void its Collective Bargaining Agreements?" "Can Concentra Make me Quit and Find a New Job?" "Compensation Benefit Increases with New Injuries," "Do I Have to Treat with the Company Doctor?" "What is Social Security and When Do GM Workers Have to Apply?" "How long Can My Workers' Compensation Benefits Last?" "How Long Will My Case Take?" "I am permanently disabled; what benefits can I obtain?" "What is Workers' Compensation Mediation?" "My Husband was Killed on the Job, can I get any Support?" "John Engler's Supreme Court," "If I Try to Go Back to Work or to Work on my Own Business, will it Affect my Workers' Comp?" "How Low Wage Earners Can Get a Compensation Rate Raise," "Governor Granholm's Reorganization of the Workers' Compensation Agency," "How Retirement Affects Workers' Comp Benefits," "Michigan Hospitals Don't Have a Duty to Protect Patients From Assault?!" "Retiree Healthcare Rights, Collective Bargaining Agreements and Bankruptcy," "Should I Hire a Lawyer?" "Should I Take an early buyout?" "What the UAW does for the Injured Worker," "Why Justice Corrigan Deserves to be Defeated," "How Workers' Compensation Benefits Can Effect Social Security Disability" Should I begin drawing Social Security Retirement Early? "Why the Disabled GM worker should not sign up for Early Social Security Retirement."; "How the Amendments to the Workers’ Compensation Act Discriminate against Older Workers."
--Included in past issues (2001--____) of the Eye Opener, UAW Local 598, Flint and certain issues of The Sparkler, UAW Local 651, Flint; Headlight, UAW Local 599, Flint; Impressions, UAW Local 1292, Grand Blanc; The Champ, UAW Local 594, Pontiac
"Workers’ Compensation," Ask the Lawyer, ABC12, WJRT.
"Workers’ Compensation," " Disability" Ask the Attorney, The Flint Journal.
REPRESENTATIVE PUBLISHED CASES
Hunt v Genesee Foundry, 353 Mich 205 (1958); Emery v Chesapeake & O.R.C., 372 Mich 663 (1964); Kleinschrodt v General Motors, 402 Mich 381 (1977); Kidd v General Motors, 414 Mich 578 (1982);Beelman v Boice Bird & Sons, 34 Mich App 607 (1971); Hilton v General Motors, 81 Mich App 21 (1978); Carlisle v General Motors, 126 Mich App 127 (1983); Martin v Secretary of Health & Human Services, 735 F2d. (6 CA, 1984); Dwyer v General Motors, Chevrolet Assembly, 1990 MIWCLR LEXIS 1085; Gilroy v General Motors 438 Mich 330 (1991); Kelly v Flint Board of Education, 1992 MIWCLR LEXIS 1439; Rodriguez v Insituform Mid-America Inc. and Liberty Mutual, 1997 MIWCLR LEXIS 635; Horton v Advantage Services Inc., 2002 MIWCLR LEXIS 305; Harr v R.T. Framing, Auto Owners & Second Injury Fund, 2002 MIWCLR LEXIS 52; Simon v Delphi, 2003 MIWCLR LEXIS 230; Bostwick v General Motors, 2003 MIWCLR LEXIS 226; Giffen v Fenton Memorials and Cincinnati Casualty, 2003 MIWCLR 221; Lakes v Delphi, 2003 MIWCLR 60); Laski v Delphi, 2003 MIWCLR LEXIS 84; Vaughn v Delphi, 2004 MIWCLR LEXIS 226; Love v General Motors, 2004 MIWCLR LEXIS 354; Streeter v GMAC Rochester, 2005 MIWCLR LEXIS 53; Perry v Delphi 2004 MIWCLR 150 (2004); Ocenacek v Ridan Party Store, 2006 ACO #319; Schnittker v AI Flint, 2009 ACO #132, lv app den, Court of Appeals, No. 293217
REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS
- We represent injured and disabled workers throughout Michigan.
- We have clients in Genesee, Oakland, Lapeer, Saginaw, Shiawassee, Macomb, Livingston, Bay, Wayne and Ingham Counties. If you are outside Michigan, in western Michigan or in the Upper Peninsula, and we can't help you directly, we will help refer you to top rated law firms that can.
- Many of our clients are UAW members. Our clients have belonged to a number of UAW locals, including UAW Local 140, 594, 598, 599, 651, 653, 659, 699, 1292 and 5960. We represent other union members, including those belonging to AFSCME Locals 875,1600 and 2650, SEIU Local 517M, Teamsters Local 332, IBEW Local 948,--and injured people struggling and fighting without a union.
- We have regular office hours at UAW Locals 594, 598, 599, 651, 659 and 1292 in Genesee & Oakland County.
CLASSES/SEMINARS TAUGHT
Disability Law Seminars, Michigan State University, School of Labor
Classes on Workers' Compensation, UAW Locals in Michigan Region 1C
Workers' Compensation in Michigan, Lorman Education Service
RECENT HONORS AND AWARDS
Michigan Workers' Compensation Hall of Fame, Robert James MacDonald, Admitted, 2000
Genesee County Michigan Democratic Party Award, R. Duncan MacDonald, 1999
Contact us to let us assist you in securing benefits and protecting your rights. Do not be afraid to exercise your rights. Most of these types of cases are handled on a “contingency fee basis” where the client pays no attorney fees unless we are able to recover money for you.
