Yes. If a drunk driver hurt you on the 4th of July, you can bring your own injury claim against that driver, and it stands apart from the criminal case the State brings. One case punishes the driver. The other pays for what the crash did to your body, your income, and your life.
The crash often comes late. The cookout is over, the fireworks are done, and someone who has been drinking since the afternoon is heading home down the 33 or the I-190. Then a set of headlights drifts across the line.
Here is what catches people off guard. Even when the drunk driver is arrested and charged, that case does little to cover your medical bills or your lost pay. Those losses ride on a separate claim, and protecting it falls to you.
This post explains how a drunk driving injury claim works in New York. It covers who can be held responsible besides the driver and what to do in the days after a holiday crash in Western New York.
Call us 24/7 at 716-854-1300 to speak with a personal injury lawyer near you, or contact us for a FREE consultation.
No. They are two different cases with two different goals. The criminal case is brought by the district attorney to punish the driver for breaking the law. Your injury claim is a civil case that you control, and its goal is to make the driver and the insurer pay for the harm.
The criminal case can result in fines, a license suspension, probation, or jail time. It can also order restitution, but that rarely comes close to covering the costs of a serious injury. Your medical care, your lost wages, and your pain and suffering live on the civil side.
The two cases can help each other. A guilty plea or a conviction for driving drunk can be strong proof in your civil claim. You do not have to wait for the criminal case to finish, and you do not need a conviction to bring your own claim. They run on separate tracks.
The driver is the obvious target, but a holiday drunk driving case often reaches further. More than one party can share the blame, and that matters when the driver alone cannot cover the harm.
Identifying all responsible parties is part of the work, and it often determines whether there is enough insurance to cover a life-changing injury.
This happens more than people expect, and New York gives you a path. Your own auto policy carries coverage built for exactly this problem.
Uninsured motorist coverage steps in when the at-fault driver had no insurance at all, including a hit-and-run driver who took off. Underinsured motorist coverage, sometimes called supplementary uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, fills the gap when the driver has some insurance but not enough to cover your injuries. These claims are made against your own carrier, and that carrier will still look for reasons to pay less, so the same care that goes into the main claim goes into these.
After any New York crash, your no-fault coverage also pays first for early medical bills and a portion of lost earnings, no matter who caused the crash. That is the basic economic loss benefit, and it is separate from the claim against the at-fault driver.
New York runs car crash injuries through a no-fault system. Your own insurer pays the first round of medical bills and some lost wages quickly, which helps while the larger claim is being processed.
To go further and recover for pain and suffering from the at-fault driver, the injury has to clear what New York calls the serious injury threshold. That is the bar a person must meet, and it covers things like a broken bone, a significant limitation of a body part, or an injury that keeps you from your normal activities for much of the first several months. A serious injury from a drunk driving crash usually clears it, but the proof still has to be built from the medical records.
One more point. New York uses a comparative fault rule, which means a person's own share of the blame can reduce a recovery. A sober victim hit by a drunk driver is usually not at fault, but the other side may still try to shift blame, which is one more reason to lock down the evidence early.
The choices you make in the first week shape the whole claim. Here is where to put your energy.
You do not have to do all of this alone. Much of it is what our Buffalo personal injury attorneys handle the moment a case comes in.
Yes. When a drunk driver causes a death, a surviving spouse, children, or other close family members can bring a wrongful death claim, and a separate survival claim can cover what the person suffered before passing. The claim forces an accounting of what the family lost in support, in household contributions, and in guidance.
A drunk driving death can also raise the question of punitive damages. When a driver's choice to get behind the wheel drunk was especially reckless, a jury may be allowed to consider damages meant to punish that conduct, on top of the damages that cover the family's loss. We never promise a number, and no claim undoes the loss. What we can do is make sure the full story reaches the people who decide the case.
A drunk driver made a choice, and you are left with the cost. Our car accident attorneys can sort out the insurance, identify all responsible parties, and preserve evidence before it disappears. Call Rosenthal, Kooshoian & Lennon, and let us carry the claim while you heal.
Call us 24/7 at 716-854-1300 to speak with a personal injury lawyer near you, or contact us for a FREE consultation.
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