Despite laws that take a stricter stance on drunk driving, there are more alcohol-related accidents now than ever. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 38% of the people who died from alcohol-impaired accidents in 2020 were either passengers of an alcohol-impaired driver, passengers in another vehicle, or pedestrians. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2021, 13,384 people died in alcohol-impaired driving accidents, a 14% increase from 2020.
These statistics mention the fatalities that occur each year but not the injuries that drunk drivers cause. The death of a loved one is devastating, but severe injuries that occur because of a drunk driving accident can diminish the quality of life for you and your family. So if you or someone that you love was injured in a drunk driving accident and are struggling to get back to the life you knew before the accident, it’s time to seek the expertise of a personal injury attorney.
Gathering documentation and evidence to support your claims is an important step to getting compensated for injuries. The more documentation and evidence your drunk driving lawyer can use for leverage when negotiating on your behalf, the better the chances of getting maximum compensation to help heal and improve your quality of life. Some key documents and records to collect include:
Your attorney will be able to help collect evidence such as witness testimonies, police reports, photographs of the accident scene, and physical evidence. Your attorney can evaluate this evidence to discover whether a drunk driver was the cause of the accident.
However, you can help by making sure injuries, tests, and treatment options are documented in medical records by following the doctor’s orders exactly. You can also help with documentation by taking periodic pictures of injuries, keeping medical bills and receipts, and writing in a journal about how the injuries impact you and your family’s daily life.
Of course, you are entitled to compensation for financial losses due to your injuries. You can claim all the medical bills that have been piling up and lost income for compensation. Property damage claims, like damage to your car or items inside the vehicle, can be filed too.
Non-economic compensation is also available. This type of compensation concerns the pain and suffering you have endured from your injuries. These damages can’t be quantified but have tremendously impacted the quality of your life and your family. Types of non-economic damages you and your family can claim include:
Even if you end up dying due to your injuries, your personal representative or successor in interest can collect these types of damages that would have been owed to you if you had lived. Your attorney will be able to calculate the maximum pain and suffering damages that you may be entitled to.
You are allowed to file for punitive damages against a drunk driver because of the driver’s willful and conscious disregard for the rights or safety of others. Punitive damage claims are allowed with the idea of not only punishing the driver but also reforming or deterring the driver and others from this behavior. You can also file a wrongful death claim against a drunk driver if a loved one has died in an accident.
The timing of a settlement depends on the facts and complexities of your case. How fast you receive compensation can depend on factors like the following:
If the insurance company insists on a low settlement offer that your attorney does not advise you to accept, a trial may be necessary to get you the settlement you deserve. However, your attorney and insurance company can still resolve your case with a pre-trial settlement on your pending lawsuit, making the trial unnecessary. If a trial is inevitable, compensation can take some time.
Once you and your Sacramento drunk driving lawyer have settled on a fair and adequate amount, you can receive your personal injury settlements in two ways. You can obtain one lump sum or a single payment shortly after a settlement agreement has been signed to address immediate financial needs. The other way of receiving your settlement is through a structured settlement plan with payments that are paid over a period of time. You can ask that a structured settlement be modified at any time to meet changing financial needs, and they are exempt from federal and state taxation and creditor claims.
Jonathan M. Kashani is the founder of Kash Legal Group, specializing in personal injury law with a commitment to providing personalized client services and high-quality legal representation. He holds a Juris Doctorate with honors from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law and is admitted to practice in all state courts of California and the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
If you and your family’s life have been turned upside down because of a drunk driving accident, it’s time to turn to the compassionate lawyer at Kash Legal. They have worked and fought for many clients in your circumstances and can help get maximum compensation for damages you and your family may be suffering from.
Kash Legal attorneys empathize with you and want to help you. They will do everything they can to obtain justice for financial losses, pain and suffering, and emotional tolls suffered because of a drunk driver. If a drunk driver has caused injury to you or your family, get a free consultation from Kash Legal by calling (888) 527-4128 or completing our contact form.
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