Drunk Driving Accidents

This Fort Lauderdale Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer helps clients in need. Mr. Quackenbush handles all types of Drunk Driving Accident cases in Broward County, South Florida and throughout Florida. He handles car accident cases involving both alcohol and drugs.

Drunk driving is one of the leading causes of accidents. Alcohol and/or drugs slow your reaction times and make accidents much more likely. It has been proven that even one drink makes a car accident more likely. If you’ve been the victim of an accident caused by a drunk driver, you may be entitled to punitive damages. Punitive damages are designed to punish, rather than compensate. In a typical accident case, compensation you receive for your injuries is called compensatory damages. This means that the compensation is designed to compensate you for your injuries and harm. Punitive damages, on the other hand, aren’t designed to compensate you. Rather, they are designed to compensate the wrongdoer (in this case, the drunk driver).

If your case goes to trial, the intoxication of the other driver may be admissible. In other words, the jury may hear about the fact that the other driver was intoxicated. This is because the other driver’s intoxication is relevant to your mental pain & suffering (the law refers to this as “mental anguish”). If you are injured by a drunk driver, you may be affected mentally in a way that you wouldn’t have been affected in a typical accident. The fact that it was a drunk driver that injured you may cause you added stress, anxiety and depression.

If you are hurt by a drunk driver, call this Fort Lauderdale Drunk Driving Accident Law Firm at 954-448-7288 for a free, no obligation consultation. If you hire Mr. Quackenbush to work on your case, he will not charge you until you’ve achieved a recovery – so there is no risk to you. Mr. Quackenbush can help you if you’ve been injured by a drunk driver in West Palm Beach, Miami, or throughout Florida.

When you are harmed by a drunk driver, there may be others (other than just the drunk driver) who may be liable. For example, if the drunk driver got drunk at a business establishment (such as a bar, nightclub or restaurant), the business establishment may be liable in certain circumstances if the drunk driver drives away and kills or injures somebody in a car accident. This type of case would be referred to as a dram shop case. In the State of Florida, the owners of the business establishment would only be responsible if they were aware that the drunken driver was habitually addicted to alcohol. This Broward County Drunk Driving Accident Attorney will do a thorough investigation to determine if the business establishment knew or should have known that the drunk driver was an alcoholic.

In addition, if the drunk driver that caused your accident came from a house party, you may (under certain circumstances) be able to pursue a case against the owner of the house where the party was held. This is pursuant to Florida’s “House Party Statute.” For example, if an underage guest is served alcohol at a house party and later kills or injures somebody in a car accident, the owners of the home where the house party was held may be liable. If the owners of the home had homeowner’s insurance, you may be able to recover compensation from that insurance policy.

If you’ve been injured in an accident involving alcohol and/or drugs, you may be able to pursue a case against the drunk driver even if you were a passenger in the drunk driver’s car. This is because drunk drivers are responsible for the safety of not only other drivers on the road, but also passengers in their own vehicles. If their intoxication causes them to get into an accident and injure passengers in their own vehicles, then they may be responsible for those injuries.

In that case, the passengers in the drunk driver’s vehicle may be able to recover compensation from the bodily injury (BI) policy of the drunk driver. At the same, the passengers may also be able to recover compensation from the uninsured motorist (UM) policy of the drunk driver.

Should you be injured by a drunk driver occurring anywhere in Florida, contact Mr. Quackenbush at 954-448-7288 for a free, no obligation consultation. Should you retain Mr. Quackenbush to work your case, there will be no charge to you unless this Broward County Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer gets you compensated – so there is no charge to you.