St. Louis Drunk Driver Accident Lawyer

A car accident is always a terrifying experience with distressing after-effects on physical and financial well-being. Still, when the cause of your accident is a drunk driver, it’s even more traumatic and frustrating.

We hate to think it could ever happen to us, yet every day about 32 people die in accidents caused by drunk drivers—or approximately one person every 45 minutes. Hundreds more suffer injuries. Substance abuse contributes to 10,000 crashes in Missouri every year.

If you or a loved one was injured or killed in an accident caused by a drunk driver, you deserve justice. Regardless of the results of any criminal prosecution of drunk driving against the driver who caused your accident, you can achieve another kind of justice in the civil courts and receive full financial compensation for injury-related medical bills and pain and suffering. Call the accident attorneys in St. Louis at Miller & Hine for a free case consultation today so we can begin working on recovering your damages.

How a St. Louis Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Can Assist You

At Miller & Hine, our St. Louis personal injury lawyers put our clients first with diligent, personalized attention to your unique accident case. We have deep compassion for those harmed by the actions of drunk drivers who endanger innocent motorists on the road. While it may seem clear who is at fault in a drunk driving accident, many factors can contribute to surprising outcomes in a drunk driving case. Missouri’s at-fault insurance laws mean the insurance company of the person at fault in the accident may try to manipulate the fault laws to assign a victim an undue portion of the blame to minimize the amount they have to pay out. You need a seasoned attorney to aggressively defend your best interests against these all-too-common tactics.

The St. Louis attorneys at Miller & Hine will carefully review the circumstances of your accident, investigate the evidence, and craft the most compelling case for liability against the drunk driver to maximize your compensation.

Proving Liability in a Drunk Driving Accident

While criminal prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a drunk driver caused the accident, a civil case requires only a “preponderance of the evidence.” Establishing a civil case against a drunk driver requires proving liability by effectively showing how the defendant meets the legal standards for liability in the accident. This requires showing the following:

• That the defendant owed a duty of care to keep others on the roads safe by following laws and taking reasonable actions
• That the defendant breached that duty through an act of negligence, recklessness, or egregious wrongdoing
• That the breach caused the accident
• That the accident directly caused the injuries
• And that the injury victim suffered real tangible and intangible damages from the injuries.

What Types of Damages Are Included in a Drunk Driving Accident Claim?

By proving liability in a drunk driving accident, your attorney from Miller & Hine can help you recover compensation for the following damages:

• Medical expenses and future medical expenses
• Lost income
• Lost or lowered earning capacity if you’re now disabled
• Pain and suffering
• Other appropriate non-economic damages like disfigurement, emotional trauma, and loss of enjoyment of life
• Punitive damages

Missouri allows claims for punitive damages in drunk driving cases. Unlike compensatory damages, punitive damages are meant to punish the at-fault driver and help deter future wrongdoing.

Time Limit For Filing a Drunk Driving Accident Claim in Missouri

Missouri has a generous time limit for accident claims, including drunk driving accidents. Injury victims have up to five years from the date of the accident to file a claim. However, the sooner after an accident you file a claim, the fresher the evidence and eyewitness testimony will be. The ideal time to file a claim is once you have a clear indication of your costs in medical expenses and lost wages due to the injury.

Who Pays for the Damages In a Drunk Driving Accident?

Missouri has fault-based injury laws with a pure comparative negligence system under Missouri 537-765. After an accident, the responsible party’s insurance company pays for damages up to the policy limit. The involved insurance companies investigate the accident to determine who is at fault or if both drivers share fault. When one driver is intoxicated, they are almost always at fault for the accident and fully liable for the accident-related damages. However, insurance companies may still assign a percentage of fault to an injury victim if they find that the victim was speeding or otherwise contributed to the accident. This allows the insurer to reduce the payout on their claim by the percentage of fault they assigned to the injury victim.

While this system benefits injury victims in car accidents who actually contributed to the accident, it also incentivizes the insurer to assign an undue portion of fault to an injury victim with a large claim.

An experienced St. Louis drunk driving accident lawyer from Miller & Hine will defend against these and other insurance company tactics to obtain the maximum compensation available to you.

Missouri’s Dram Shop Laws

Missouri is one of the majority of states that has dram shop laws. A dram shop law allows an injury victim to pursue compensation for their accident or injury-related damages from a bar, club, pub, or similar venue that overserved a patron or served alcohol to an underage patron.

Under Missouri Revised Statutes Section 537.053, the law states the following:

“…A cause of action may be brought by or on behalf of any person who has suffered personal injury or death against any person licensed to sell intoxicating liquor by the drink for consumption on the premises when it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that the seller knew or should have known that intoxicating liquor was served to a person under the age of twenty-one years or knowingly served intoxicating liquor to a visibly intoxicated person…”

At Miller & Hine, we investigate all aspects of the accident and the events leading up to the crash. Depending on the unique circumstances of your case, we could pursue compensation under Missouri’s dram shop law if appropriate.

Do the Driver’s Criminal Charges Affect My Case?

The criminal justice system focuses on punishing the wrongdoer in a drunk driving accident case, while the civil court’s purpose is to allow an injured victim to seek legal redress through compensation for their damages. A civil claim proceeds independently of the criminal process after the accident, and your compensation does not depend on a guilty verdict; however, a guilty plea by the driver and/or a drunk-driving conviction makes proving liability significantly easier.

What Types of Accidents Happen From Drunk Driving?

States like Missouri set legal limits for blood alcohol concentration (BAC) for a reason. Intoxication substantially impairs a driver’s judgment, hand-eye coordination, alertness, vision, and reaction times, greatly increasing the chances of an accident. Additionally, injuries in drunk driving crashes are often severe due to the driver’s reduced ability to brake or swerve to avoid or minimize the impact of a collision. Common types of drunk driving accidents in St. Louis include the following:

• T-bone collisions in intersections due to a drunk driver’s failure to yield the right of way
• Rear-end collisions from a drunk driver’s tailgating or a delay in braking due to reduced reaction time
• Head-on collisions caused by a drunk driver swerving into the oncoming traffic lane or entering a divided highway or one-way street in the wrong direction
• Sideswipes from improper lane changes, illegal passing, or improperly merging
• Forced roadway departures when a drunk driver forces another vehicle off the road
• Pedestrian and bicycle accidents

In some cases, a drunk driver behaves aggressively behind the wheel or engages in road rage behaviors that cause serious car accidents.

Common Injuries Sustained in a Drunk Driving Accident

Missouri law enforcement considers a driver over 21 with a blood alcohol level (BAC) of .08% or higher as intoxicated. The limit is lower for commercial drivers or minors under the age of 18. Intoxicated driving commonly results in reckless speeding, drifting into other lanes, hugging the middle of the lane, running red lights, and dozing at the wheel—all of which may result in devastating car accidents. Some common injuries suffered by those in vehicles involved in accidents with drunk drivers include the following:

• Head injuries and Traumatic Brain Injuries
• Fractures
• Spinal cord damage
• Internal injuries
• Amputations
• Burns
• Disfigurement

The most catastrophic injuries caused by drunk drivers can result in fatalities—a type of wrongful death that leaves families suffering undue emotional and financial burdens.

What Should I Do If a Drunk Driver Hits Me in St. Louis?

There are specific actions you should take after any accident in order to protect your physical health and financial future. Never confront or accuse the driver, even when you strongly suspect they are impaired. Doing so could cause violence or they could leave the scene to evade arrest. Instead, take the following actions:

• If you’re seriously injured, do nothing other than wait in place for help and dial 911 if you are able
• Call 911 to report the accident, your injuries, and that you suspect the other driver is impaired
• If you’re able to move safely, use your phone or ask an uninjured person nearby to use your phone to take photos of the accident scene, involved vehicles, and the license plate of the driver’s vehicle. If there are loose or open alcohol bottles nearby or in the other driver’s car, you or the person helping you can also take photos of that evidence unless the other driver appears angry or aggressive
• Collect the contact information of any eyewitnesses
• Accept emergency transport to the hospital and have a thorough examination, telling the medical provider about all of your injuries and symptoms
• Ask for a detailed medical report
• Obtain the police report about the accident and arrest if the drunk driver was charged
• Keep all medical bills and call the St. Louis drunk driving lawyers at Miller & Hine

By keeping a cool head and taking steps to gather evidence, you can help gain full recovery of damages later.

Call Miller & Hine Today for Your Consultation

If you’ve been injured by a drunk driver, you deserve full compensation for the damages the accident caused. The drunk driver is at fault for the accident and their insurance policy must pay out on your damages.

Facing a complex legal issue during this vulnerable time can be daunting. You need the drunk driving accident lawyers from Miller & Hine defending your interests throughout the process, crafting a compelling case for a settlement, and litigating in court if necessary to secure your compensation. Call our St. Louis office today so we can begin strategizing on maximizing your compensation.