Every year, drunk drivers cause accidents in Arizona that result in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries, as well as billions of dollars in property damage and economic losses.
In 2023, for example, more than 300 people died in Arizona DUI accidents, and more than 3,800 were injured, with nearly $4 billion in economic losses attributable to drunk driver crashes.
If you have been in a car accident with a drunk driver, then you wonder what you can recover in a settlement with the driver, that person’s insurance company, and anyone else responsible for your harm. At the Stone Rose Law Firm, our car accident attorneys represent drunk driving accident victims in settlement negotiations and at trial.
To learn more about the fair compensation value of your legal claims against a drunk driver after an accident, call our offices at (480) 498-8998. We can assess the facts of the accident in a free consultation and guide you in your next steps.
Calculating an average settlement for a drunk driving accident is highly dependent on the specific circumstances of each case, how much insurance coverage the at-fault driver has, and how much assets are available to pursue.
This makes establishing an “average” settlement value difficult, but we can say that in minor cases involving only minor vehicle repairs and no injuries may settle for a few thousand dollars, often within the limits of insurance, while an accident that results in permanent injuries or a wrongful death claim can settle for several million dollars.
The first thing to consider about a drunk driving accident settlement is that it is a variation of settlement for a car accident. The difference is in how alcohol or drugs contributed to causing the accident.
With this in mind, let’s look at what goes into negotiating a settlement after a car accident.
The basis for car accident settlements is a personal injury lawsuit, or the credible possibility of one. A personal injury lawsuit means that you must be able to show that the other driver owed you a duty of reasonable care, breached that duty, and that compensable harm to you happened as a result.
In a drunk driving accident, the other driver’s duty to you was to drive sober, and driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol is a breach of that duty. Next, we have to consider the kinds of harm that happened to you if a car crash happened based on that breach of duty to you.
Here are the kinds of harm you can experience from a DUI accident in Arizona.
Any physical harm you suffer because of a drunk driving accident is compensable in either a settlement or a verdict from a civil lawsuit in court. Physical injuries are direct economic damages. Arizona puts no limit on how much you can recover for these damages, as long as you can prove them.
Examples of costs connected to personal injury in drunk driving accident settlements include:
Lost wages and lost earning capacity are also included as direct damages from personal injury.
The aftermath of a drunk driving accident can lead to ongoing consequences to you other than personal injuries. The mental trauma you can experience can result in anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. It can also harm your ability to work and to engage in normal activities and relationships with your family; these are called loss of companionship and loss of consortium.
Pain and suffering and emotional distress are indirect or non-economic damages, and although they are more subjective than direct damages from physical injuries, they are still compensable.
The value of personal property you own that is damaged or destroyed in a drunk driving accident is another form of direct damages. A settlement or a verdict can include damage to your vehicle, its contents, and any other personal property you own.
If the behavior of the drunk driver in causing the accident was particularly reprehensible, in some cases, you may be able to recover punitive damages from that person.
In Arizona, punitive damages are available only when the defendant meant to cause harm, or was motivated by spite or ill will, or engaged in consciously outrageous conduct that created a substantial risk of significant injury to others.
It may be hard to prove punitive damages in a drunk driving accident case, but if you can then Arizona puts no limits on how much you can recover. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, has put a limit on such damages at a 9:1 ratio compared to your other compensatory damages.
Harm to you personally is not the only way you can recover compensation after an accident with a drunk driver. You can also make a legal claim against that person if the accident caused death to a member of your immediate family.
In addition to the classification of harm, another consideration is the degree of harm you suffer. For example, if you are fortunate and the drunk driving accident results only in property damage, then what you can recover in settlement would be less than if serious injury occurs or even a loss of life.
The next major consideration in calculating the settlement value of a drunk driving accident is to identify everyone who played a role in causing the crash.
Clearly, the drunk driver is the first person to look at. In some cases, though, a business that serves alcohol, like a restaurant or a bar, may also be potentially liable for causing the accident if it sold alcohol to the driver when that person was clearly intoxicated, he or she consumed that alcohol, and a crash resulted.
This kind of indirect responsibility for a DUI accident is known as dram shop liability under Arizona law. It can also apply if the establishment sells alcohol to an underage person who then gets into a car accident with you, even if that person is not impaired.
You can have the most serious injuries, emotional distress, and property damage in the wake of a drunk driving accident, but how much you practically recover in settlement will be affected by how much the liable parties have in resources that you can go after.
For example, was the drunk driver insured? Is an uninsured or underinsured driver involved?
According to Arizona law, drivers must have automobile insurance with the following minimum insurance requirements:
The drunk driver’s auto insurance policy limits can limit how much you can recover in settlement. Some drivers may carry uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage equal to the policy’s bodily injury coverage limits.
How much does that person make in income? What assets does that person own that can be liquidated to pay for the harm done? Is there another defendant that might also contribute to the settlement, like a bar subject to dram shop liability?
One of the things that a personal injury attorney can do for you in a drunk driving accident settlement is to investigate the defendant or defendants to see how much is potentially available to you in settlement.
Sometimes, a car accident is the result of behaviors by both drivers. For example, if you are involved in a drunk driving accident in which the drunk driver crosses the centerline and hits your vehicle, but you were talking on the phone while driving when the collision happened, then the drunk driver’s attorney might claim that you were not blameless.
Under Arizona law, this concept is called comparative negligence.
Comparative negligence is not an absolute defense. If the drunk driver can claim that you were negligent in some way that helped cause the accident, you can still pursue a settlement or a civil court case against that person. Instead, what happens is that if you sued the other driver in court and the court decided that you were partly at fault, then the court would reduce how much you could recover in a judgment award by the percentage of your fault.
In the example above, if you had been found 10% at fault for the accident, the court would reduce your recovery by the same percentage. In settlement negotiations, the attorney for the defendant or defendants would argue that the same comparative negligence principle should reduce the value of your settlement amount.
As you can see from the above, settling a drunk driving accident can involve many considerations and related calculations. This is where having an experienced attorney can ensure you receive the most possible final settlement value.
Here are some of the ways your drunk driving accident attorney can help.
Medical expenses can be the most important part of your settlement for a drunk driving accident. Thus, how and when you receive medical care for your injuries sustained can make a difference in the strength of your negotiating position.
The longer you undergo treatment, the more likely your medical treatment settlement value will increase. For example, as you receive treatment, the full extent of your injuries and medical bills can become more apparent, and your attorney can present a more complete settlement package.
How much you receive in compensation depends on the strength of your case. Your case, in turn, depends on the strength of your evidence.
If you have a personal injury attorney from Stone Rose Law, then you can be confident your lawyer will conduct an extensive investigation of the evidence connected with the accident to identify all responsible parties and witnesses, investigate the accident scene, and gather all available documents like police reports.
Where necessary to bolster your settlement case, your attorney can also call upon expert witnesses and accident reconstruction specialists.
An experienced personal injury attorney will know how to look for all possible kinds of harm you have suffered: medical expenses, lost wages and income potential, pain and suffering, property damages, and more.
Most personal injury cases, including those for drunk driving accidents, do not go to trial but settle instead. As we mentioned above, one factor in settlement negotiations is convincing the attorney for the drunk driver, or the drunk driver’s insurance company, that you will prevail in court if negotiations fail and a lawsuit becomes necessary.
Part of this preparation involves thoroughly investigating the facts of the accident and making sure nothing gets left out when calculating the costs of the harm done to you.
Another part will be ensuring fair settlement negotiations happen before Arizona’s two-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims expires. The more severe your injuries, the longer it can take to negotiate a settlement, so it is essential that your lawyer maintains the option to resort to the legal process to keep pressure on the other party.
Our Phoenix auto accident attorneys at Stone Rose Law provide strong legal representation for car accident clients throughout Arizona, including those who are the victims of impaired drivers.
If you have become one of the thousands of Arizona drivers to be involved in a DUI accident that has caused you injury, and you want to be sure you receive the best possible legal settlement for your personal injury claim, call us.
Do you prefer to communicate with us online? You can reach us here to schedule a free initial consultation or to ask a question to one of our dedicated Phoenix car accident lawyers.Contact us online or call (480) 498-8998 to schedule your free consultation to discuss your car accident case and legal options.
