Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, whether those drugs are prescription or illicit, can severely impair the driver's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle. This can result in some serious accidents with life-threatening or fatal injuries. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a third of all fatal accidents in the United States involve an intoxicated driver. If you or a loved one has been injured from an intoxicated driving accident, it is absolutely imperative that you have competent legal representation. These types of personal injury or, in some extreme cases, wrongful death cases require very precise, technical, and scientific knowledge of DUI or DWI tests, and for those without legal backgrounds, it can be hard to file a properly drafted lawsuit.
Liability in California for Drunk Driving or Drugged Driving Accidents
Liability in accidents lies with the driver who caused the accident. When the driver is intoxicated, the assumption, initially at least, is that the intoxicated driver caused the accident, and is, therefore, liable for it.
That said, liability depends on the facts and circumstances, not purely on a person's intoxication alone. It is not a given that an intoxicated driver will be liable for every accident. For example, if the other driver involved in the accident blew through a red light or was texting at the time of the collision, they will likely be held accountable or at least partially liable.
Evidence and Proving Intoxication in Auto Accident Cases in California
Cases involving driving under the influence (DUI/DWI) accidents can be tricky to prove to some extent because you need to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the driver was intoxicated. This burden of proof requires that evidence show it was more likely than not that the intoxicated driver caused the accident (and not simply that the driver was intoxicated). Fortunately, in order to prove this, you can use evidence allowed by the court in the criminal case. Furthermore, you can do so even before the criminal trial has been conducted.
Keep in mind, however, that you need to prove not just that the other driver was intoxicated but that the driver was at fault for the accident––and it was the intoxication that caused it. Evidence you can submit in a civil case can include but is not limited to:
- Police reports
- Evidence of driver's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) (breath, blood, or urine tests)
- Eyewitness testimony
- Surveillance footage from nearby cameras
- Photographs of the scene
- Accident reconstruction reports
- Testimony of people who witnessed the other driver drinking and becoming intoxicated
Also, keep in mind that even if the alleged intoxicated driver is found not guilty of a DUI or DWI, that may not matter in your civil case. As mentioned above, the burden of proof is by a preponderance of the evidence in most civil cases, and in criminal cases, the standard is a much higher one: beyond a reasonable doubt. DUI/DWI defendants can often get off on a technicality, but the same may not apply in a civil case.
Compensation from Intoxicated Driving Accidents in California
Compensation is intended to make a victim of an accident “whole” (or as much as possible) after the losses they sustain as a result of the accident. A victim of an intoxicated driving accident may be eligible for different forms of compensation that involve both economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages may include but are not limited to medical bills to treat the victim and any costs to repair or replace the vehicle. If the auto accident victim misses work as a result of their injuries, then they can demand lost wages, among other things.
It is also possible for accident victims to be compensated for the pain and suffering that they experience as a result of their injuries. These sorts of damages are less concrete, but the general rule is that the worse an injury is, the higher the dollar figure for pain and suffering could be.