Peter A. Smit

I contacted Varnum Law, the largest law firm in West Michigan and one of the largest in the state of Michigan after a rear end collision by a texting driver that left me with severe, chronic injuries that are life changing. I asked for the best and the toughest trial attorney that they had for person...al injury and trial work. The receptionist said, "you must want to speak with Peter Smit." I had a phone conversation with Peter who then came to visit me at my home. I showed Peter my policy and he commented that I bought the right insurance because I had a $1,000,000 under insured and uninsured rider on my policy. Peter when to work and began to do the underlying work necessary to file a law suit against the woman that hit me and the owner of her car along with her insurance provider. Once Peter did her deposition and I did mine with the help of Peter's partner Bonnie Sawusch who is both an attorney and a registered nurse, the defendant's insurance carrier paid out the maximum on the policy and my insurance carrier which previously refused to pay any disability came to the table with an offer to settle the disability portion of the case with a healthy settlement that maximized the statutory amount allowed for disability in the State of Michigan. Peter then immediately filed suit against my insurance company for the balance of the under insured liability which was a significant amount. We got all the way to two months before trial and had a settlement conference. Peter and Bonnie prepared a very strong offense as to why we deserved the maximum. The settlement conference produced a significant amount for us to settle the case which my wife and I decided was the best way to go. My cousin is an insurance defense lawyer. He told me that in fifteen years of insurance defense he has only paid out an amount near what we received twice in fifteen years. We ended up with a very healthy award between the defendant's policy payout, the disability and the award from my insurance carrier for breach of contract. I watched all the ads on TV about 1-800 call some jackass in Detroit. I never gave it a thought. Varnum had done all of my intellectual property work and I knew the quality of the work they do. Peter had had jury awards and settlements far in excess of 1-800 call the jackass and being a highly respected and successful law firm Varnum has significant resources to pay up front the costs of litigation. I would hire Peter Smit for any litigation that I have going forward and highly recommend Peter and his parter Bonnie Sawusch especially for cases that involve complex personal injury. My wife and I were very pleased with the outcome and I can't begin to recommend Peter, Bonnie and Varnum Law enough. I don't call the first attorney in the phone book. I do my research and knew Varnum was the only firm that I wanted to represent me.