Drunk driver crash.

Why drunk-driver cases are different

In a normal car accident, your damages are limited to compensatory damages — medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering. In a drunk-driver case, if we can prove gross negligence, we can recover exemplary damages on top of that — damages designed to punish the drunk driver and deter future drunk driving.

Under Chapter 41, exemplary damages are capped at the greater of:

• Twice the amount of economic damages, plus up to $750,000 of non-economic damages, OR
• $200,000

In catastrophic cases, this cap can add millions to a recovery.

Texas Dram Shop liability — TABC §2.02

Texas's Dram Shop Act (Alcoholic Beverage Code §2.02) makes a bar, restaurant, or other licensee liable for injuries caused by a drunk customer if the provider:

• Provided alcohol to an obviously intoxicated patron, AND
• That provision was a proximate cause of the subsequent injury

This is a separate claim from the claim against the drunk driver themselves. Bars carry dram-shop liability insurance; those policies can add hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of dollars of available coverage. We investigate every drunk-driver case for dram-shop potential by:

• Getting the drunk driver's credit-card receipts and bar tabs
• Subpoenaing surveillance footage from the bars and restaurants they visited
• Interviewing bartenders, servers, and witnesses
• Calculating BAC backward ("retrograde extrapolation") to estimate the driver's intoxication at the time they were served their last drink

Evidence to preserve

• Breath and blood test results — and the underlying police-report documentation
• Hospital toxicology records (subpoena required)
• Bar and restaurant receipts
• Surveillance footage from establishments the driver visited
• Witness statements from bar staff and other patrons
• The drunk driver's prior DWI history and driving record
• Any criminal case file and plea records

Why the criminal case and the civil case are separate

The drunk driver will face a criminal DWI case. That case has no direct bearing on your civil recovery — you don't have to wait for it to resolve, and even if the driver is acquitted or gets a reduced plea, your civil case proceeds under a lower burden of proof ("preponderance of the evidence" vs. "beyond a reasonable doubt"). We coordinate with the criminal proceedings to get evidence but don't let them slow our civil case.