How To Prove Liability In A DWI Wreck

If you, or someone you love, sustained injuries in a crash caused by an intoxicated driver, it is important to start working with a lawyer who can help you to file a claim and to hold the drunk driver accountable for the harm they have caused. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Louisiana has a significantly higher rate of alcohol-impaired injuries and deaths than the national average. Indeed, the alcohol-impaired driving death rate nationwide is 3.2 per 100,000 population, while that rate is 4.6 per 100,000 population in Louisiana. Whereas 1.7 percent of drivers report they have driven after having too much alcohol, 2.3 percent of Louisiana drivers say they have driven after being alcohol-impaired.

When an alcohol-impaired driver causes a crash that results in injuries, it is important to know how to seek financial compensation for losses. To be able to win a claim for compensation against an intoxicated driver, you will usually need to prove fault. How can you provide fault in a DWI wreck? Consider some of the following options:

• Results of a Chemical Test
  • If the person who caused the drunk driving crash in which you were injured was required to take a chemical test after the collision, such as a breath or blood test, you may be able to use the results from the chemical test to prove that the driver was intoxicated at the time of the wreck.
• Reconstruction Expert Testimony
  • A collision reconstruction expert can recreate or reconstruct a crash scene to show how it must have been caused by an intoxicated driver.

• DWI Criminal Citation
  • While your claim against a drunk driver will be a civil lawsuit (which means that you will be seeking financial compensation, rather than taking any kind of action that will impact criminal charges or criminal consequences), drunk drivers can also face criminal charges for intoxicated driving. You should have called the police after the collision, and the police may have arrested the driver for “operating a vehicle while intoxicated” under Louisiana law. A person can face charges for operating a vehicle while intoxicated if the person was under the influence of alcoholic beverages at the time of the collision, under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance, under the influence of alcohol and a prescription drug, or had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or higher.

You can obtain a police report or an arrest record to support your case in which you argue that the driver was drunk, and therefore negligent and responsible for the wreck that resulted in your injuries.

• Witness Statements
• In many drunk driving accident cases, witnesses observed the intoxicated driver swerving, speeding and slowing down erratically, and engaging in other behaviors that suggested the driver was intoxicated and unable to safely operate a motor vehicle. At the time of the collision, you should obtain contact information for witnesses, and your lawyer can seek out those witnesses later on to support your case.

Contact a Shreveport DWI Wreck Lawyer 

If you were injured in a collision caused by an intoxicated motorist, an experienced Shreveport DWI wreck attorney at our firm can assist you with your case. Contact Rice & Kendig today for more information about how we can help you.

Sources:

cdc.gov/transportationsafety/pdf/impaired-driving-new/CDC-impaired-driving-fact-sheet-Louisiana.pdf

legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=78751