Blanco Wilczynski PLLC filed an Amicus Curiae brief in the Michigan Supreme Court on behalf of the Michigan Association of Ambulance Services (“MAAS”) in the matter of Griffin v. Swartz Ambulance Serv. , 947 N.W.2d 826, 2020 Mich. LEXIS 1559, 2020 WL 5499060, dealing with the reach of the immunity provision contained in the Emergency Medical Services Act (“EMSA”). In Griffin, the Plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle involved in an automobile accident resulting in a serious leg injury. He was extricated from his vehicle by EMS and was being attended to and transported to the hospital by ambulance, when the ambulance was involved in a collision with another vehicle. Plaintiff claimed that the second accident caused and/or contributed to a delay in treatment of his leg injury, which ultimately resulted in the amputation of his leg. The Defendant ambulance company sought dismissal of the case by summary disposition based on the immunity provision of the EMSA (MCL 333.20965(1), which protects emergency medical services providers from liability for all but gross negligence or willful misconduct when engaging in the treatment of a patient. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of the case based on the EMSA immunity and the Plaintiff Griffin filed an Application for Leave to the Michigan Supreme Court arguing that the immunity afforded to EMS providers under the EMSA does not apply to the ambulance transportation of the patient. 

In lieu of granting the application for leave, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered the parties to first brief the question of whether the Emergency Medical Services Act, which protects emergency medical services providers from liability for all but gross negligence or willful misconduct when engaging in the treatment of a patient, applies when an EMT or ambulance company is engaging in the ambulance transport of a patient to the hospital. The Michigan Supreme Court also invited interested parties to file Amicus Curiae (“Friend of the Court) briefs and Blanco Wilczynski PLLC was retained to submit an Amicus brief on behalf of MAAS. On April 22, 2020, the Court heard oral argument on the application for leave to appeal and on September 11., 2020, the Court denied the Application for Leave, allowing the lower Court’s dismissal of the ambulance provider stand.  See Griffin v. Swartz Ambulance Serv. , 947 N.W.2d 826, 826, 2020 Mich. LEXIS 1559, *1, 2020 WL 5499060