Injury Claims Relating to DUI Accidents in California
Recovering compensation from a motor vehicle accident, especially a DUI accident, is a complex process that typically depends on proving the driver's negligence. This is where the expertise of a seasoned personal injury attorney becomes invaluable.
Proving negligence in a DUI accident is a complex process. It often involves demonstrating that the driver violated traffic laws or operated the vehicle at an unsafe speed, leading to the accident. This complexity underscores the importance of seeking legal assistance in such cases.
If the driver or vehicle owner has insurance, then the injured person's liability claim can, in some cases, be relatively straightforward.
DUI accidents, though, can complicate financial recoveries. First, simply because the driver turned out to be drunk does not automatically make a liability case.
The drunkenness must have contributed to the carelessness that caused the accident.
Drunkenness often causes delayed reaction times or drowsiness or otherwise interferes with safe vehicle operation. However, the claimant must still prove that contribution, which can take significant investigation into alcohol levels and their effects on driving.
Another potential problem with DUI accident recoveries is that drunk drivers can be irresponsible about other things, like insuring their vehicle.
Too often, the drunk driver who caused serious injury doesn't have liability insurance, or if they do, the limits are not high enough to compensate the victim in full.
If you, your family member, or your friend have suffered an injury in a DUI accident, it's crucial to take prompt legal action. Contact our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers for a swift and thorough claim review.
Vehicle-Owner Liability in California
Some drunk drivers indeed have little or no liability insurance. The Insurance Information Institute reports that about 15% of California's motorists drive illegally uninsured.
The drunk driver may not even own the vehicle they crashed, causing injury or damaging any other vehicle, thus having no obligation to insure against liability.
Importantly, then, California vehicle owners share the liability with those they allow to drive their vehicles. California's owner liability statute states:
- “Every owner of a motor vehicle is liable and responsible for death or injury to person or property from a negligent or wrongful act or omission in the operation of the motor vehicle, in the business of the owner, by any person using or operating the same with the permission, express or implied, of the owner.”
Persons injured by a drunk driver can sue the vehicle owner too and recover from the vehicle owner's liability insurance unless the drunk driver stole the vehicle or was otherwise operating it without consent, which is a relatively common issue in drunk driving cases.
In any case, claimants may be able to make a claim against not only the drunk driver but also the vehicle owner.
Abolishing the Server's Liability
Does a person injured in a DUI accident have other potential avenues for recovery beyond the drunk driver and the vehicle owner? There used to be a time in the 1970s when California case law recognized liability claims against bars and social hosts when they served alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person or a minor who then drove carelessly, injuring the claimant.
The California legislature eventually overturned that case law with a 1978 statute restricting liability to the person who imbibes and drives, not the person who serves the driver.
The statute's subsection (b) states in relevant part that:
- “The furnishing of alcoholic beverages is not the proximate cause of injuries resulting from intoxication, but rather the consumption of alcoholic beverages is the cause of injuries inflicted upon another by an intoxicated person.”
The same statute's next subsection (c) reinforces that:
- “No social host who furnishes alcoholic beverages to any person can be held legally accountable for damages suffered by that person, or for injury or property of, or death of, any third person, resulting from the consumption of those beverages.”
So much for broad dram shop or social host liability.
Preserving Limited Server Liability
Yet, the same California statute preserved claims against social hosts who serve someone whom they knew or should have known to be a minor under the legal drinking age of 21:
- “Nothing in subdivision (c) shall preclude a claim against a parent, guardian, or another adult who knowingly furnishes alcoholic beverages at their residence to a person whom they know, or should have known, to be under 21 years, in which case, the furnishing of the alcoholic beverage may be found to be the proximate cause of resulting injuries or death.”
Another California statute within the Business and Professions Code 25602.1 also imposes liability for resulting injury on any person, licensed or required to be licensed to serve alcohol, who serves a visibly intoxicated minor.
Proving obvious intoxication depends on outward signs of drunkenness like:
- slurred speech,
- unstable standing or walking,
- glassy eyes, and
- lack of emotional control.
The upshot of California's case law back and forth is that an injured person may seek compensation for their injuries from:
- (1) the bar that serves an intoxicated minor, or
- (2) the social host who serves someone they knew or should have known to be a minor.
Our personal injury lawyers know how to investigate and prove these claims.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Claimants injured by a drunk driver have one other potential source of recovery: UM/UIM coverage. Vehicle owners may purchase additional insurance coverage that pays when the careless driver injures them in cases where the at-fault driver's vehicle was not insured, or the policy limits were too low to provide full compensation.
The claimant may also take advantage of this option if they simply reside with someone who has uninsured motorist https://www.injuryjusticeattorney.com/auto-accidents/uninsured-motorist-claimsor underinsured motorist coverage. These uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist policy terms are complex, warranting experienced counsel.
Personal Injury Attorney for California DUI Injuries
The above discussion shows that if you have suffered an injury at the hands of a drunken driver, you should retain a seasoned personal injury attorney.
For DUI accident cases, we have the knowledge, skill, experience, resources, and reputation to pursue broader recovery theories beyond the aggressively straightforward claim against the drunken driver. You pay no fee unless you recover. Don't let your claim wait. Hire a Los Angeles personal injury attorney you can trust.
Injury Justice Law Firm is a top-rated personal injury attorney serving victims of negligence throughout Southern California, including Los Angeles County, Orange County, Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, Riverside, and San Bernardino.