Unique Issues in Drunk Driving Cases
If you are hit and injured by a drunk driver in Massachusetts, it may seem like an easy case—after all, everybody knows DUI is illegal, and most jurors will look at the drunk driver with some scorn and hostility for causing an injury while being drunk.
But there are actually a lot of details and technicalities in a typical drunk driving case that many people aren’t even aware of. These are things that can make what seems like an ordinary case a bit more difficult.
Insurance Coverage and Payment
One issue that arises in DUI cases is insurance coverage. Even if the Defendant has car insurance with liability coverage, many insurance policies exclude criminal acts—and DUI is of course a criminal act. Insurance companies like to get out of paying claims and they may deny coverage to their insured (the party that hurt you).
This can put you, and the liable driver, in an odd situation—both of you want the other driver’s insurance company to cover your losses.
Who Else is Liable?
In many cases, the drunk driver got his alcohol from someone else. It could be someone who drank at a friend’s house, or in a bar, or an older child who had access to alcohol at mom or dad’s house.
And in any car accident, with a drunk driver or not, if the vehicle that caused the accident was titled jointly, the other owner of the car may have liability as well—even if he or she wasn’t in the vehicle and didn’t know the driver was going to get behind the wheel intoxicated.
That means that in many drunk driving cases, there may be parties other than the driver who can be liable. This can also provide additional insurance compensation to help you with your injuries.
What About Punitive Damages?
You can get punitive damages from a negligent drunk driver. But not in every case. Although the mere act of getting behind the wheel drunk may seem careless, wanton, and grossly negligent, personal injury doesn’t presume that this is the case; to get punitive damages, you have to show that the other driver willfully got behind the wheel drunk to get punitive damages.
That means a driver who says, for example, that he was addicted to alcohol, or that he believed that he had only drunk non alcoholic drinks, or that he was on medication that impaired his judgment, may have a valid defense to punitive damages (to be clear, that driver would still have to compensate you for your injuries and losses—the lack of willfulness would only protect him or her against having to pay punitive damages).
The Criminal Case Doesn’t Matter
It is a reality that many people who drive drunk are not convicted. Perhaps they take a plea deal, or maybe they just win in court. But that doesn’t matter—you can still recover damages against a drunk driver, even if he or she was acquitted in criminal court, and even if state criminal charges were dropped, or never pursued.
Get attorneys who understand the unique issues in DUI injury cases. Call the Boston personal injury lawyers at The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today for help at 617-275-4200.
Source:
malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter138/Section69