DETROIT – The battle over Michigan’s Auto Insurance Reform is taking center stage Thursday afternoon in downtown Detroit with a “Rally for Vlady.”
Detroit Red Wings legend Vladimir Konstantinov and his family have been outspoken about the no-fault insurance reform law’s impact on people living with catastrophic injuries.
The rally was doubly significant this year.
Not only is it just after a state court heard the case for helping thousands of people keep their care, but it also marks 25 years since the tragic accident of a Red Wings legend.
Twenty-five years is a survival milestone for Konstantinov, the Detroit Red Wing tragically suffering life-long injuries after a limo accident in 1997.
Read: 25 years since Red Wings limo crash, former players reflect on tragic night
He met with fans and took photos this afternoon.
But beneath the surface, a fight over changes to the state’s no-fault auto insurance. A new law is stripping nearly 18 thousand people across the state of the money they’ve relied on for decades.
Rally goers are urging they be grandfathered in to keep their care.
Former Red Wing Darren McCarty explains the way only a red wing can.
“I don’t understand why there’s no grandfathering in rule, which would be like hockey,” said McCarty. “When I started playing, Craig MacTavish didn’t wear a helmet; he didn’t have to because he played when there wasn’t wearing helmets.”
The rally was put on by the Michigan Brain Injury Association, whose president says they want politicians to see the people their choices impact.
“At the end of every data point is a human life,” said Tom Constand. “We’re literally talking about life and death here. We’re talking about quality of life, and the amount of people here exemplifies the fact that people care. People care!”
That statement is something McCarty agreed with.
“I’m here for my buddy Vlady and his caregivers and his friends and for everybody else affected,” McCarty said.
That court case was just heard by the Appellate Court earlier this month, where the judges heard oral arguments.
What happens now is a waiting game as they wait to see how the court rules and whether it will need to go all the way to the state supreme court.
