If you are injured by an intoxicated driver, you have the right to file an intoxicated drivers lawsuit to recover damages and losses. The driver need not be convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) before a civil lawsuit can be filed.
To decide whether you have intoxicated drivers lawsuit claim for damages against a reckless driver, you just need to answer the following questions:
A driver with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08% or higher can face a DUI charge. This legal limit is established to make it easier for law enforcement to charge those that are intoxicated to a certain level.
However, a driver that has a BAC of between 0.05% and 0.08% is considered driving while ability impaired (DWAI). Although it carries slightly less significant penalties, DWAI is still a crime.
Do you have a legal standing to file a wrongful death claim? You do if you are one of the following:
An intoxicated drivers lawsuit could either be a lawsuit for negligence or wrongful death. In either case, the victim may recover the following:
In an intoxicated drivers negligence case, you need to prove specific elements, including the following:
As a general rule, all drivers owe other drivers and pedestrians the duty to operate a vehicle in a manner that will avoid injuring others.
In civil litigation, pointing to the evidence of the accident itself should be enough to demonstrate that a breach occurred. Hiring an intoxicated driver’s accident attorney can help you prove these cases successfully.
You need to prove that the defendant’s conduct is the factual and legal reason why you were injured. In other words, no one else, including yourself, could have primarily contributed to your harm. This is where it gets tricky and where your intoxicated drivers accident attorney will come in.
You are not allowed to use the legal system unless your injuries manifest into recognizable economic or non-economic damages. This includes, among others, medical costs, property damage, or pain and suffering.
However, in drunk driving situations, plaintiffs can simply demonstrate that the conduct was unreasonable because it is against the law. Thus, the law presumes that the drunk driver was negligent as long as the following elements are present:
Laws against drunk driving are meant to protect other drivers, pedestrians, and passengers. Therefore, if defendants drink and drive and then crash into and harm others, they are liable to compensate the victim in an intoxicated drivers accident lawsuit or claim. After all, they broke the law and harmed people in a manner expressly prohibited by law. This policy is actually helpful as it saves claimants a lot of time during the trial. Instead of arguing over whether the defendant’s conduct was wrongful or not, the claimant can show that the conduct caused your injuries or damage.
You can also file a wrongful death claim if your relative or loved one died because of a drunk driver. However, you need to prove the following points to get maximum compensation in an intoxicated drivers lawsuit.
Expect the defendant to raise defenses to avoid liability to pay compensation. Some of the common defenses that people would use to prevent an intoxicated drivers settlement include:
The victims need to argue that the police stop, which led to the DUI, was not properly maintained. As a result, the officer lacked probable cause for the accident.
Defendants often argue that either the field sobriety test or breathalyzer test was not accurately completed. They would normally claim that the machine was malfunctioning, the officer did not know how to administer it, or there were outside factors that tampered with the breathalyzer test.
Defendants point to police, administrative, or other errors to justify their release or exonerate them from civil punishment. They would also cite some intervening force or event to explain away the incident instead of their drinking and driving.
The following documentary and testimonial evidence can help build a strong case for you.
The officers who responded to the accident caused by an intoxicated driver’s negligence need to file a formal report. This report will likely contain the most crucial details, such as the results of any field sobriety tests or breath tests conducted in the aftermath. The police report will help you prove that the driver who struck you was impaired.
Several parties might have seen what happened, including other motorists and their passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians. If any of those parties testified to seeing the at-fault party driving erratically before the crash, it would really help strengthen your claim.
Accident reconstruction experts will determine how the accident occurred by checking out the photos and videos of the wreckage. This evidence plays an important role in convincing the insurance adjuster that the driver who struck you was drunk.
Most modern vehicles are now equipped with event data recorders or black boxes. From seat belt engagement to brake application, these devices log more than a dozen operational variables. Therefore, if the black box data shows that the motorist who hit you was driving recklessly before the accident or failed to take any evasive maneuvers whatsoever to avoid the collision, the reckless or intoxicated driver’s negligence makes them liable.
Your medical records, such as your health insurance statement, hospital logs, and x-ray images, will serve as the foundation of your damages claim. To mitigate disputes regarding causation, you need to visit a doctor as soon as possible after the accident. Additionally, it will help reduce the risk of complications since some impact injuries can get considerably worse the longer they are left untreated.
Ethen Ostroff Law can help you connect with an experienced intoxicated driver’s accident lawyer who will go after the person or company that caused your injuries. If you have any inquiries or want to know how we can handle your intoxicated drivers lawsuit case and successfully get you maximum compensation, don’t hesitate to contact us.
What are you waiting for? Contact Ethen Ostroff Law now at 610-510-8883 ( by calling this number, you consent to receive SMS updates from Ethen Ostroff Law) or Submit Form to get free consultation.
His career began in public service as a Surveillance Officer in Maricopa County, where he gained firsthand experience in high-stakes decision-making and developed a deep sense of discipline and accountability. He later served as Chief Operating Officer of a fast-growing law firm, driving efficiency, revenue growth, and team development. Today, Ryan focuses on helping law firms reach their full potential by aligning people, processes, and long-term vision. A strategic thinker and empowering leader, Ryan is passionate about developing others and guiding organizations through meaningful, lasting growth.
Effective Date: 10/15/2026
Ethen Ostroff Law, PLLC (“EOL,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy. If you are reaching out to us after an injury, we know you may be sharing personal details during a hard time. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you visit ethenostrofflaw.com (the “Site”), how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have.
This Privacy Policy works together with our Terms of Use. By using the Site, you agree to the practices described here. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site.
Visiting the Site, submitting a form, chatting with us online, or sending us an email does not create an attorney-client relationship. An attorney-client relationship begins only when you and EOL sign a written Retainer Agreement. Until then, information you send us is not protected by attorney-client privilege and is not considered confidential. Please do not send sensitive details about your matter until we have spoken with you.
When you request a free consultation, fill out a form, use our live chat, call, text, or email us, you may give us:
When you visit the Site, we and the third-party tools described in section 8 may automatically collect:
We may share your information with:
If you opt in to text messages, you may receive messages about your inquiry or case. Message frequency varies, and message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP at any time to opt out, or HELP for help. Mobile phone numbers and text message opt-in consent will not be shared with third parties or affiliates for their own marketing purposes.
We do not send the details you type into our intake forms, contact forms, or live chat, such as information about your injury or legal matter, to Google, Meta, TikTok, Reddit, or any other advertising platform.
The Site uses cookies, pixels, and similar tools. A cookie is a small file stored in your browser. A pixel is a small piece of code that loads when you visit a page and sends information about your visit to the company that provides it. We use Google Tag Manager to load and manage these tools.
The table below lists the third-party tools on the Site and what we use them for.
| Provider | What we use it for | Provider privacy policy |
| Google Tag Manager | Loads and manages the other tools listed here. It does not build a profile of you. | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Google Analytics | Understanding how visitors use the Site, such as pages viewed and how they found us. | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Google Ads | Measuring ad conversions and showing our ads to past visitors. | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Meta Pixel (Facebook and Instagram) | Measuring ad performance, showing our ads to past visitors, and reaching similar audiences. | facebook.com/privacy/policy |
| TikTok Pixel | Measuring ad performance, showing our ads to past visitors, and reaching similar audiences. | tiktok.com/legal/privacy-policy |
| Reddit Pixel | Measuring ad performance, showing our ads to past visitors, and reaching similar audiences. | reddit.com/policies/privacy-policy |
| Intaker | Powers the live chat on the Site so you can reach our intake team. | intaker.com |
| OpenWidget (ChatBot.com) | Powers the chat assistant on the Site. | openwidget.com |
| Google reCAPTCHA | Protects our forms from spam and automated abuse. | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Google Maps | Displays maps of our office locations. | policies.google.com/privacy |
These tools may collect the information listed in section 3. If you give us your email address or phone number, a scrambled (hashed) version may be sent to an advertising platform so it can match your visit to an existing account.
Google, Meta, TikTok, and Reddit may combine the information they receive with other data they hold about you and use it under their own privacy policies. You can learn how Google uses information from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Some state privacy laws, including California’s, may treat sharing information through advertising pixels as a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information, or as targeted advertising. Depending on where you live, you may have the right to know what information we hold about you, to ask us to correct or delete it, and to opt out of its sale or sharing. To make a request, contact us using the information in section 15. We may need to verify your identity before we respond. We will not treat you differently for using these rights.
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your information. No method of sending or storing data over the internet is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee the security of information you send us.
We keep your information as long as we need it for the purposes described in this policy, including to meet legal, ethical, and record-keeping obligations.
The Site is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them online. If a parent or guardian is contacting us about a child’s injury, the parent or guardian should submit the inquiry.
We may update this policy when we add, change, or remove tools on the Site or change how we handle information. We will post the updated version here and change the effective date above.
If you have questions about this policy or want to make a privacy request, contact us:
