If you’ve been injured by a driver who was knowingly or unknowingly intoxicated, high, or overly medicated when they were operating their vehicle, know that you have opportunities for legal recourse in civil court. Too often, when individuals are struck by intoxicated drivers, they are under the impression that the only ways in which those intoxicated drivers will be held accountable involve the criminal justice system. In reality, you have rights as an injury victim and, depending on the circumstances of your situation, you may have rights as a victim of a crime as well. As a result, it’s important to connect with an attorney who has experience representing victims in drunk driving and drugged driving cases. Doing so will allow you to explore your legal options in an informed way and will allow you to fight for any compensation to which you may be entitled.

Motorists Owe Each Other a Duty of Care Under the Law

At any point that a motorist gets behind the wheel of a vehicle and starts that vehicle, they owe a so-called “duty of care” to anyone else who they may encounter while they’re traveling. Essentially, this duty of care means that the motor vehicle operator is duty-bound – by law – to operate their vehicle safely and in accordance with all relevant laws and regulations. If they “breach” this duty by operating their vehicle in a manner that the law deems negligent, reckless, or intentionally dangerous, they can be held legally liable for that behavior if they harm anyone as a result of that breach. This means that if your injuries directly resulted from the intoxicated driver’s negligent, reckless, or intentionally dangerous operation of their vehicle while they were intoxicated, you have grounds to hold them accountable by filing a civil action against them. Also, as noted above, you may be entitled to compensation as the victim of a crime, depending on the unique circumstances surrounding your situation.

What Does the Personal Injury Process Look Like?

If you choose to file legal action against the driver who hit you, a few things will happen necessarily. First, you’ll need to speak with an experienced attorney about your options. No two intoxicated driving accidents ever unfold under exactly the same circumstances. As a result, it’s important to get a professional case evaluation before making any assumptions about the strengths of your case, the possible weaknesses of your case, and/or what the value of the compensation you may be owed might be. Understand that consultations are confidential and risk-free. If you choose to explore your legal options during a free consultation and ultimately decide that you don’t want to file a personal injury claim, that is entirely within your right.

Second, your attorney will need to evaluate your case in order to give you a clear sense of your options. As a result, your attorney may need to do a little investigating and gather some evidence before they can give you a truly objective picture of how “strong” your case is overall. If you decide to pursue legal action after your case has been properly evaluated, your attorney will begin building your personal injury claim. They will need to prove – as explained above – that the driver who hit you owed you a duty of care, breached that duty by driving while intoxicated, and directly caused your injuries as a result of that breach.

Third, your attorney will both negotiate with insurance providers on your behalf and begin negotiating to potentially settle your case. Roughly nine out of every 10 personal injury cases settle before there is any need to go to trial. Of course, your attorney will prepare your case for trial so that they are ready in the event that you aren’t offered (and ultimately choose to accept) a fair settlement before there’s a need to try your case in court. However, chances are high that you will be offered a fair settlement before your case ever reaches a courtroom.

Preparing for Your Consultation with an Attorney

The best thing you can do now, in terms of your legal rights, is to take some time to prepare for your initial personal injury consultation. Gather a copy of the police report, any physician’s notes or discharge papers from the medical care you received in the wake of your accident, and any other documentation that you believe may help your attorney understand the nuances of your situation better. Similarly, if you exchanged insurance information with the individual who hit you, took pictures or video at the scene, noted the names and contact information of witnesses to the crash, or otherwise have any information that will help to clarify the details of the accident, please bring this information along too.

Finally, if you have yet to record your memories of the accident itself (the moments leading up to it, the collision, and anything you can remember after impact) please take a few minutes to do so now. This isn’t an easy exercise and it wouldn’t be requested of you if it wasn’t important. Partially as a self-protective response to the crash, your memories are likely to fade and change and refocus as time passes. Recording your memories now will allow your attorney to reference them as your case is taking shape and will allow you to reference them in the future should you ever want to.

Free Consultations Are Available

If you’ve been injured by an intoxicated driver, please know that the law is on your side. Please schedule a no-cost, risk-free consultation with our firm today to explore your legal options. Also, until you’ve spoken with us, please avoid speaking with insurance claims adjusters. We want to ensure that you get every last dime you’re entitled to and we know how to speak with insurance professionals in ways that won’t unintentionally compromise the value of your case. You deserve the best representation possible. We’d be honored to provide that service for you during this challenging time.