DUI Accidents: Criminal Liability and Civil Consequences

This article covers the resulting criminal liability and civil consequences of getting into an accident while driving in an impaired condition.

Drunk Driving Traffic Accidents

One of the key legal issues is the determination of whether the impaired driver was the actual cause of the accident. If so, the impaired driver faces severe penalties.

Impaired Driver Not The Cause of Accident and Resulting Injuries

Not only would the impaired driver be facing drunk driving criminal charges, they would also be limited in what they could recover in civil damages against the driver who caused the accident.

Many states, like California, have limited an intoxicated person’s ability to recover damages. For example, suppose you were stopped for a red light, and another driver collided with your vehicle from behind. In that case, there is no question that the other driver was entirely to blame for the accident.

Right To Bring a Civil Action for Personal Injuries

Economic Damages

If you were legally impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time you were operating a motor vehicle, and you choose to seek ompensation for your injuruies against the driver that rear-ended you, in some states, you would be limited to recovering only your out-of-pocket “economic” damages from the other driver.

General Damages – Non-Recoverable

Let’s take this a little further. Suppose the accident caused you painful, permanent, disfiguring facial scarring. Your medical bills were $18,000, you missed work, and your lost earnings amounted to $1,800.

General damages (pain and suffering) for the types of injury could be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Still, because you were convicted (or pleaded guilty) of drunk driving, you could only recover $19,800.

You would not be entitled to recover your general damages.

Consumer groups have highly criticized this law. This law was written and financially sponsored by insurance companies.

Impaired Driver Caused Accident and Resulting Injuries

Major Penalties

Almost all courts now apply unique penalty enhancement against drivers who have caused a traffic accident while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Felony Charges

While most driving under the influence cases are charged as simple misdemeanors, when the offense is coupled with injuries caused by accident, prosecutors will likely file the offense as a felony.

While states differ, in most cases, felony probation is not granted in DUI accidents with serious injuries should you be determined to be the primary cause of the accident.

Misdemeanor DUI Accident

If you are found at fault, but the injuries were minor, if filed as a misdemeanor, the punishment is up to one year in county jail.

Felony offenses, however, carry much harsher penalties, including a state prison term of multiple years.

Possible Felony Charge – The Wobbler

Drunk driving cases can either be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony. The types of cases are called “wobblers” by criminal defense lawyers.

Under these circumstances, a significant objective of the criminal defense lawyer will be to convince the prosecutor to file or re-file the drunk driving case as a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

If serious injuries were involved, the case would likely be filed as a felony, even if it was the defendant’s first and only criminal offense. In the case of an accident resulting in death, the drunk driver will likely be facing charges of manslaughter.

DUI-Manslaughter

According to the US Department of Transportation, about 30% of all traffic crash fatalities in the United States involve drunk drivers with BACs of .08 or higher.

In California, for example, a driver who causes the death of another while impaired by either drugs or alcohol can face a prison sentence of as long as ten years.

If the defendant had prior criminal convictions for drunk driving, the law permits the court to sentence the driver to up to fifteen years in state prison.

DUI Accident on Private Property

It would make no difference if the DUI-Accident did not occur on a public street or highway to be criminally actionable. Vehicular homicide can be prosecuted if it happens anywhere, including on private property.

In cases where the defendant has been charged with causing an accident while under the influence of alcohol, the defense attorney will try to prove two crucial facts.

• First, the driver was not sufficiently impaired to be guilty of a drunk driving offense.
• Second, even if the driver was sufficiently impaired, the driver was still not the legal cause of the accident.
• Successfully proving either of these two defenses can result in a dismissal of your case.

Defendant Will Try To Show Defendant Was Not Legally Impaired

Proving that you were not substantially impaired within the meaning of the state’s drunk driving laws usually means proving that while you had consumed some alcohol, it was not enough to render you so impaired that you could not operate a motor vehicle safely.

Prosecutor Will Try To Show Defendant Was Legally Impaired

The prosecutor will usually counter this approach by relying on the arresting officer’s observations and testing of the defendant through balance and coordination exercises known as field sobriety tests.

Prosecutor Will Rely On All Available Evidence

If the defendant was forced to give a blood, breath, or urine sample (blood tests are more common in DUI cases involving accidents), the prosecutor is allowed to use the test results as proof of the defendant’s impairment.

Prosecutors cannot just point to the fact that the defendant had an accident to prove per se that the defendant was drunk at the time of the accident. You don’t have to be drunk to cause a traffic accident.

Impairment Must Be The Legal Cause of The Accident

Even if the defendant was shown to be impaired at the time of the accident, it does not necessarily mean the alcohol impairment was the legal cause of the accident. Usually, the prosecutor will have to prove bad driving, such as speeding or driving recklessly, to prove their case against the alleged drunk driver

Consult with a DUI Defense Lawyer

Should you have specific questions or require additional information about your legal rights and obligations, we recommend you consult with a verified DUI Defense Lawyer as soon as possible.