Spring Hill Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer

Lucas, Macyszyn, & Dyer Injury Firm Will Fight For You

At Lucas, Macyszyn, & Dyer Injury Firm, we take our responsibility to serve the injured and oppressed seriously. Our experienced car accident attorneys know that we are often the bridge between chaos and compensation. Our goal is always to make the legal process as simple and successful as possible for our clients.

Since our founding in 2000, we have handled many injury cases, and unfortunately, our personal injury attorneys see drunk driving cases all too often. Luckily, our experience means that we can help you pursue the maximum compensation after your injury. Call us for your free case evaluation. We look forward to serving you.

The Dangers of Drinking and Driving

According to the Florida Department of Transportation, impaired driving is a factor in about one-quarter of all motor vehicle accidents. In the U.S., around 28 people die each day due to drunk driving, making it one of the most deadly factors in accidents involving all types of vehicles, including commercial trucks, passenger vehicles, and even motorcycles.

As explained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), alcohol reduces the function of the brain, producing deficits in the skills needed for driving safely, as well as clouding a driver’s reasoning and depriving them of muscle coordination. While many people believe that an individual is safe to drive until they reach the legal impairment limit of .08 grams of alcohol per deciliter of blood, in reality, alcohol begins to affect a person’s driving ability after the first drink

By the time the driver reaches the legal impairment limit, they are already suffering from:

• Decreased ability to track moving targets
• A decline in the ability to multitask
• Difficulty steering
• Slowed response in emergency driving situations
• Loss of concentration and short-term memory
• The inability to control one’s speed
• Difficulty detecting changes in traffic signals
• The inability to make rational driving decisions

Approximately one-third of traffic crash fatalities in the U.S. result from drunk driving.

Criminal DUI Charges vs. Drunk Driving Accident Claims

While both criminal DUI charges and civil drunk driving accident claims arise from driving under the influence of alcohol, they are two distinct legal matters:

Criminal DUI Charges

• DUI (driving under the influence) is a criminal offense under Florida law.
• Criminal charges are brought by the state against the alleged drunk driver.
• Penalties can include fines, license suspension, probation, and even jail time.
• A criminal conviction requires the state to prove the defendant’s guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
• The focus is on punishing the offender and deterring future drunk driving.

Civil Drunk Driving Accident Claims

• Drunk driving accident claims are civil lawsuits brought by the victim of a DUI crash.
• The lawsuit seeks monetary compensation from the drunk driver for injuries and damages.
• Compensation can cover medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, property damage, etc.
• The plaintiff must prove the defendant’s liability based on a “preponderance of the evidence” standard.
• The focus is on making the victim whole through financial recovery.

Criminal DUI charges and civil accident claims are handled separately. The outcome of one doesn’t necessarily affect the other. An experienced Spring Hill personal injury attorney can help injury victims pursue full and fair compensation through insurance claims and civil lawsuits, regardless of the status or outcome of any criminal DUI case against the at-fault driver.

Who Is Most Likely to Drink and Drive?

Anyone old enough—or young enough—to drive a vehicle can be a drunk driver, regardless of gender, the state where they live, or economic status. However, some drivers are more likely to drive drunk and crash than others.

Here is a look at the NHTSA’s recent drunk driving statistics.

• Alcohol impairment is more common in younger drivers, with those 21 to 24 most likely to be in fatal drunk driving accidents.
• Male drivers involved in drunk driving accidents outnumber female drivers involved in this type of accident by about four to one.
• Motorcyclists are the most common roadway users in drunk driving accidents, with 29 percent of fatal motorcycle accidents involving alcohol. Alcohol impairment will cause about one in every five fatal accidents involving a passenger car and about 2 percent of crashes involving commercial trucks.
• Drunk driving accidents are more likely to happen at night.

Teenage drunk drivers pose unique risks, as they have alcohol-impaired abilities, and most of them are inexperienced drivers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drivers between the ages of 16-20 are 17 times more likely to die in a crash if their blood alcohol content is .08 or higher than if they had not been drinking. Teens are three times more likely to die in any traffic crash than more experienced drivers.

Types of Drunk Driving Crashes

Because alcohol impairment creates such a variety of impacts on the skills needed for safe driving, nearly any type of accident can be associated with impairment, including:

• Head-on collisions result from the impaired driver being unaware that they are driving on the wrong side of the road.
• Broadside (T-bone) collisions happen when the driver fails to stop for a red light or a stop sign.
• Single-car rollover accidents result from the driver overcorrecting due to exaggerated movements or failing to negotiate a curve in the road due to the inability to focus on the roadway.
• Accidents caused by speeding, as alcohol impairment impacts the driver’s ability to control their speed
• Chain-reaction accidents take place when the driver cannot respond appropriately in emergencies.
• Rear-end accidents strike due to the driver’s inability to pay attention to the road.

Injuries Commonly Sustained in Drunk Driving Accidents

A driver’s difficulties controlling speed, steering, and braking make many drunk driving accidents severe.

Some injuries commonly sustained in this type of accident include:

 

• Catastrophic injuries are serious injuries, such as a traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury. The term “catastrophic injury” describes damages to specific body parts that present a high likelihood of permanent disabilities that will impact the sufferer’s ability to earn an income.
• Internal bleeding, known as hemorrhaging, occurs when an internal organ has sustained an injury. This can lead to dangerous blood loss, irreparable damage to the organ, and even death.
• Broken bones can cause chronic pain and loss of the use of a limb.
• Soft tissue injuries, including whiplash, occur when the neck undergoes a rapid back-and-forth movement due to a sudden jolt, such as what one would experience in a car accident.

---

Seeking Compensation After You’re Injured in a Drunk Driving Accident

Individuals injured by the recklessness of a drunk driver in Spring Hill can seek compensation for their injuries.

This process typically includes first seeking compensation from the at-fault party’s liability insurance policy through a demand made to the insurance company. The insurance company will generally assign the claim to an adjuster responsible for investigating the accident on the insurance company’s behalf and determining how much compensation it feels you deserve.

If the insurance company refuses to pay the claim—either by denying it and providing an explanation for the denial or by failing to make a fair settlement offer—it can be filed as a personal injury lawsuit within four years of the date of the accident.

The Type of Expenses and Impacts You Can Be Compensated For

Common expenses and impacts that drunk driving accident claimants seek compensation for include:

• Medical expenses
• Wage loss
• Lost earning capacity
• Property damage (damage to your vehicle)
• Physical pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of the enjoyment of life

---

Is Compensation Available If a Loved One Died in a Drunk Driving Accident?

If you lost a loved one due to a drunk driving accident, you could seek compensation for the expenses and impacts of your loss through a wrongful death claim.

The wrongful death claims process is very similar to the personal injury claims process, with a few key differences:

• The time limit to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Florida is within two years of the accident’s date, as opposed to four years for the personal injury claims process.
• A personal representative of the estate (an executor) must file the claim on behalf of family members. The family members who can benefit from the claim include the deceased’s spouse, children, parents, or others for whom the deceased provided support.
• The type of compensation you can seek in a wrongful death claim addresses the expenses and impacts on the family member, not on the individual who

The type of compensation you can seek in a wrongful death claim addresses the expenses and impacts on the family member, not on the individual who died in an accident. Common types of expenses and effects involved in a wrongful death claim include:

• Medical expenses for the deceased’s final injury
• Loss of services and support; loss of love, comfort, companionship, and society for the deceased’s spouse
• Loss of nurturing, guidance, and parental instruction that the deceased provided to their children
• Loss of wages and benefits from the time of the injury until the time of death
• Loss of wages, benefits, and other income that the deceased would have earned through the course of their career if they had survived the accident
• The cost of a funeral service and burial or cremation

Proving Liability

To obtain compensation, the claimant must prove that someone else was liable for the drunk driving accident that caused their injury.

We prove this by showing:

• The at-fault driver had a duty to take reasonable actions to protect others on the roadway from harm. These reasonable actions include driving the vehicle safely and lawfully.
• A breach of this duty occurred when the driver operated their vehicle while impaired by alcohol, which is neither safe, legal, or conducive to protecting others from harm.
• Because the driver was operating a vehicle while impaired, an accident occurred that injured the claimant.

While the impaired driver is the most likely source of liability in a drunk driving accident, Florida allows claimants to seek compensation from other people or entities, such as a business establishment or social host that knowingly furnished alcohol to an underage driver or who knowingly provided alcohol to a habitually addicted driver.

---

The Important Services Provided by an Attorney

Our experienced drunk driving accident lawyers can:

• Evaluate your claim based on available insurance, the severity of the injury, past and future expenses, and impacts of the injury. In Florida, claimants can seek punitive damages upwards of $500,000 or three times the value of the claim in cases where the defendant’s actions were grossly negligent or intentional.
• Gather the type of evidence and witness testimony needed to prove your claim. A blood or breath alcohol test given to the at-fault driver constitutes powerful evidence in a drunk driving accident claim. Other evidence includes the police report, an arrest of the at-fault party on drunk driving charges, and statements from witnesses who observed the driver’s behavior before the accident.
  Manage contact with the at-fault party’s insurance provider to protect the claim from common insurance tactics used to reduce the value of claims.
• Manage the case’s timeline to file the lawsuit before the statutory deadline.
• Negotiate a settlement to ensure you receive the most compensation available. Settlement negotiations can occur between when the claimant’s attorney files the demand to the insurance provider to when the court renders a decision on the matter in court.
• Help you make essential decisions about your case.
• Collect compensation after a settlement or judgment.