Drunk Driving Victims

The criminal case is not your case

This is the single most common misunderstanding, and it costs people time they cannot get back.

When a drunk driver is arrested, the state prosecutes them. That case is about punishing the driver. You are a witness in it, not a party. It can result in jail, probation, a license suspension, and sometimes an order to pay restitution — and restitution is usually a fraction of what an injury actually costs.

Your case is separate. It is a civil claim for what happened to your body, your income, and your life. It runs on its own schedule with its own deadlines. Waiting for the criminal case to finish before starting yours is the mistake Boyd sees most often.

What the drunk driving evidence does for you

A conviction, the arrest report, the field sobriety results, and the chemical test are all developed by the state at no cost to you, and they can be powerful in your civil case. Fault is rarely the real fight in these files.

It also changes the tone of the negotiation. Insurers who will argue a rear-end case for a year know how a jury feels about a drunk driver, and they price that risk accordingly.

There may be more than one responsible party

The driver is the obvious defendant and is often the one with the least insurance. Depending on the facts, other parties may share responsibility — for example, where alcohol was served, or the vehicle's ownership and permitted use. Whether any of that applies is fact-specific and it is one of the first things Boyd looks at, because a case with only a minimum-limits driver behind it needs every other avenue examined early.

What Boyd will not tell you

He will not tell you the money makes it even, because it does not. He will not tell you how long you should be angry. He will not promise a number.

What he will do is handle the insurers so that you can spend the next few months on your recovery rather than on hold with a claims department, and tell you the truth about the case as it develops, including when the truth is inconvenient.

What to do

• Get medical care and keep going to it
• Ask for the police report number and the case number, and keep both
• Write down what you remember while it is fresh, including the hours after
• Do not give the driver's insurer a recorded statement
• Do not wait on the criminal case to start your own

Call Boyd

The first conversation is free, it obligates you to nothing, and he takes it himself.