How Drunk Driving Injury Cases Are Different

We all know how awful driving drunk is, and how devastating it can be to the families that are ruined by that behavior. But that would make you believe that when someone is injured by someone who is intoxicated behind the wheel, that it is an “easy case.”

Actually, there are a lot of issues that make DUI injury cases a bit more complex than your standard, car accident case, that doesn’t involve intoxication.

Insurance Denials and Problems

One problem in DUI cases can be the lack of insurance coverage by the intoxicated driver.

Standard insurance policies do not cover intentional, criminal acts. And that begs the question as to whether or not drunk driving that causes an accident, is in fact an accident, or whether the act of getting behind the wheel while drunk, is an intentional act.

There are cases where insurers will deny their insured (the negligent, drunk driver) insurance benefits, saying that their insured acted intentionally. As a victim, now suing someone with no insurance coverage, this can leave you with no way to collect on any judgment that you may win.

It can also lead to the bizarre situation where both you, and the driver who injured you, are “on the same side,” as both of you are fighting for the negligent driver’s insurance company to agree to insure the negligent, drunk driver.

Dram Shop Laws and Additional Defendants

Rhode Island does have what are known as dram shop laws. These are laws that hold an establishment, or a social host, liable, if they serve you alcohol, and then allow you to get behind the wheel of your car, knowing that you are intoxicated.

This can allow a victim the chance to hold an additional entity responsible for the drunk driver’s actions and behaviors. In any drunk driving case, an attorney should conduct an inquiry as to where the drunk driver obtained the alcohol, to see if that person or business may have some liability.

Criminal Liability

The criminal system is very different from the civil system. There are a lot of reasons why a criminal case, particularly a DUI case, may get dismissed, or plea bargained, or just never even prosecuted.

But that doesn’t mean you, as a victim of a drunk driver, cannot still sue, and get damages, because of the drunk driving. The fact that for some reason the drunk driver never faced criminal penalties, doesn’t mean a jury in your civil personal injury trial can’t find that the Defendant was in fact driving drunk when he or she injured you.

Punitive Damages

Remember that in many cases, punitive damages may be available in drunk driving cases. This is especially true, when the other driver had an excess amount of alcohol in his or her system at the time of the accident.

Contact our Rhode Island injury lawyers at Robert E. Craven & Associates at 401-453-2700 today for help if you were injured by a drunk or intoxicated driver.

Source:

ribar.com/For%20the%20Public/Influence.aspx