Los Angeles Drunk Driving Accident Attorneys
Someone chose to drive drunk and you are the one paying for it, in surgeries, missed work, and a claim you never asked to handle. Aghnami Law Group handles Los Angeles drunk driving injury claims.
Being hit by an impaired driver puts you in a claim that works differently from an ordinary crash, and the differences start on day one. Two questions decide most of these cases: whether anyone besides the driver can be held responsible, and whether there is enough insurance behind the claim to cover what the injury actually costs.
A Los Angeles drunk driving accident lawyer at Aghnami Law Group handles these DUI cases regularly, and one of the first things we explain to new clients is how different a DUI claim actually is from an ordinary car accident case.
Call Aghnami Law Group at (213) 212-4334 for a free consultation, and we will look at what happened.
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Can You Actually Sue the Bar for Dram-Shop Liability?
Usually not, and that answer surprises almost every new client. Dram-shop liability is the rule, used in many states, that lets an injured person sue the business that served the drinker. Most people assume that if a bar overserved the driver who hit them, they can sue the bar directly, and in California, that assumption is usually wrong.
California generally shields bars, restaurants, and other licensed servers from civil liability when an adult customer they served causes a drunk driving crash, under Business and Professions Code Section 25602. That is the opposite of how many other states handle it. The one meaningful exception involves minors: under Business and Professions Code Section 25602.1, a licensed server who furnishes alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person under 21, who then causes an injury, can be held civilly liable.
Private hosts sit under a different statute with a different test. California Civil Code Section 1714 gives social hosts the same broad protection for serving adult guests, but subdivision (d) makes an adult liable who knowingly furnishes alcohol at their own residence to someone they know or should know is under 21. Note what that test does not require: unlike the rule for licensed servers, it turns on the guest’s age and the host’s knowledge rather than on obvious intoxication.
This is where third-party dram-shop liability actually matters in a real case. If the driver who hit you was under 21 when a bar, restaurant, or private host served them, our drunk driving accident practice investigates that angle specifically, since it can bring a commercial or homeowners policy into a case that would otherwise depend entirely on the drunk driver’s own limited coverage. Establishing what a server or host knew takes real investigative work, including staff interviews, receipts, and sometimes surveillance footage.
Where Los Angeles Drunk Driving Crashes Happen Most
Los Angeles produces DUI crash patterns tied closely to its nightlife geography and its late-night transit gaps, and recognizing those patterns early often shapes how a case gets investigated.
- Crashes near bar-heavy corridors like the Sunset Strip, DTLA’s Arts District, and Hollywood, particularly in the hour right after last call
- Freeway crashes on the 101, 405, and 10 during late-night and early-morning hours, when impaired drivers mix with much lighter traffic and considerably higher speeds
- Crashes involving rideshare gaps, when a driver chooses to get behind the wheel rather than wait for a car during peak demand surge pricing on a Friday or Saturday night
- Holiday weekend spikes, especially around the Fourth of July, New Year’s Eve, and Cinco de Mayo, when DUI patrols increase across the county, but so does overall drinking
- Hit-and-run incidents, common enough in impaired-driving cases that identifying the driver becomes its own phase of the investigation
- Pedestrian injuries outside bars and clubs, where impaired drivers sometimes strike people on foot before ever fully reaching the road
Each of these patterns changes what evidence actually matters, from surveillance footage outside a specific bar to the timeline of a driver’s last known drink. A crash near a rideshare pickup zone often comes with app data showing exactly when a driver canceled or never opened the app at all.
What Does Compensation Look Like in a DUI Case?
Compensation in a Los Angeles drunk driving case generally follows the same categories as other personal injury claims, but DUI cases carry one significant difference worth understanding upfront.
- Medical expenses connected to the crash, both the bills already incurred and the documented cost of care still ahead
- Lost income and reduced future earning capacity if the injury affects your ability to work
- Property damage to your vehicle or other belongings
- Pain and suffering tied to the physical and emotional toll of the crash
- Wrongful death damages when a drunk driving crash proves fatal
- Punitive damages, meaning money awarded to punish rather than to compensate, are available in some DUI cases and almost never in ordinary negligence claims
California sets a high bar for punitive damages. Civil Code Section 3294 requires clear and convincing evidence of malice, oppression, or fraud, and malice includes conduct carried on with a willful and conscious disregard of the safety of others.
In the Taylor decision, the California Supreme Court held that punitive damages may be pursued against an intoxicated driver, but it did not hold that intoxication by itself establishes that standard. It is a fact-specific question that should never be promised before the evidence is reviewed, and it remains a real avenue worth evaluating that most other crash types simply do not offer.
The Coverage Problem Most Victims Do Not See Coming
Here is what catches a lot of DUI victims off guard: the driver who hit you may carry very little insurance. Under California Vehicle Code Section 16056, the current minimum is $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident, and $15,000 for property damage, and many drivers carry nothing beyond that minimum. A serious injury from a DUI crash can easily exceed that minimum policy several times over, leaving a real gap between what the driver’s insurer will pay and what the injury actually costs the victim and their family over time.
This is where the real work on a DUI claim happens. We know how quickly a minimum policy limit can get exhausted in a serious injury claim, and we know to look immediately at your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage as a second, often larger, source of recovery. We read your own UM and UIM coverage before a policy limit letter ever arrives, rather than waiting for one to tell us the claim has run out of room.
Many clients do not realize their own auto policy might cover a gap like this until we explain it during the free consultation. Call Aghnami Law Group at (213) 212-4334, and we will tell you which policies are likely in play.
How Does Our Drunk Driving Accident Practice Handle Your Case?
We start with a free consultation reviewing the crash, the criminal case if charges were filed, and every insurance policy that might apply, including your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. From there, we investigate directly: securing the police report and any available toxicology results, identifying dram-shop evidence if a minor was served, and preserving surveillance footage from nearby businesses before it gets overwritten.
We track the parallel criminal DUI case closely, since a conviction or plea in that case often provides powerful evidence for the civil claim, though the two cases proceed independently. If an insurer will not offer fair value, we prepare Los Angeles car accident cases as though they may go to trial, and we negotiate from that position.
We also stay in regular contact throughout the process, since DUI cases sometimes take longer to resolve than a routine crash claim, while a criminal matter works through the court system in parallel. Clients should understand why a case is moving at a particular pace, not just receive occasional updates when something finally happens. We take these cases on a No Fee unless we win basis, and the first consultation is free.
What To Do After a Drunk Driving Crash in Los Angeles
The steps you take immediately after a DUI crash protect both your health and your claim.
- Call 911 and stay at the scene until officers arrive, since the responding California Highway Patrol or police report becomes central evidence in both the criminal and civil cases
- Follow through on any care you are advised to get, which is also what starts the record a claim is later built on
- Photograph the scene, both vehicles, and any visible signs of the other driver’s condition if it is safe to do so
- Avoid discussing fault or apologizing at the scene, since statements made in the moment sometimes get misread later
- Contact a drunk driving accident lawyer in Los Angeles before speaking with any insurance adjuster, including your own
Taking these steps early preserves evidence that tends to disappear fast in DUI cases specifically, since witnesses scatter and surveillance footage cycles out within days. A bar’s own security cameras, for instance, often overwrite footage on a rolling basis measured in weeks, not months, which means the window to request that footage through legal channels closes faster than most people expect.
FAQs: Los Angeles Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer
Do I need to wait for the criminal DUI case to resolve before filing a civil claim?
No. The civil claim and the criminal case move on separate tracks, and a Los Angeles DUI accident attorney can generally start building your civil case without waiting for a conviction. That said, an eventual conviction or guilty plea can become useful evidence in the civil case if the timing works out that way.
What if the drunk driver has no insurance at all?
Your own uninsured motorist coverage typically applies in this situation, assuming you carry it, which California requires insurers to offer on every policy. This is one of the most common gaps we see, since many people do not realize how much their own policy protects them until a drunk driver with no coverage causes their crash, and some drivers even decline uninsured motorist coverage in writing without fully understanding what they are giving up.
Can I still recover damages if I was a passenger in the drunk driver's own vehicle?
Often, yes, particularly if you did not know the driver was impaired before getting in the car. California courts evaluate what a passenger reasonably knew or should have known at the time, and a passenger who had no reasonable way to detect the driver’s condition generally retains a strong claim, even against the driver they were riding with, since that driver’s own auto policy typically still applies to passenger injuries.
How long do I have to file a drunk driving injury claim in California?
Most personal injury claims, including DUI cases, must be filed within two years of the crash under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1, though claims against a government entity carry a much shorter six-month deadline under California Government Code Section 911.2. Waiting to consult an attorney can quietly shrink the time available to build a strong case.
Does it matter if the drunk driver was on the job at the time of the crash?
Yes. If the driver was working, delivering, or driving for a rideshare platform at the time, their employer’s commercial insurance policy may also come into play, which can significantly expand the total coverage available to pay a claim. Establishing that the driver was acting within the scope of their job at the exact moment of the crash takes careful investigation, because that single question decides whether the larger commercial policy is available.
Talk to a Los Angeles Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Today
A drunk driver’s insurance rarely covers the full cost of a serious injury, and knowing where the rest of that coverage might come from makes a real difference in these cases. That is the gap between a settlement that covers the bills you already have and one that accounts for years of ongoing treatment.
A DUI victim lawyer in Los Angeles keeps looking past the drunk driver’s minimum policy until every source of recovery is accounted for. Call Aghnami Law Group at (213) 212-4334 for a free consultation, and a Los Angeles drunk driving accident lawyer will walk through what happened and which policies apply.
Aghnami Law Group - Los Angeles Office
1801 Century Pk E 24th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Ph: (213) 279-0976
Why Choose Us?
- Free Consultation: We offer free consultation to discuss your case and explore your options.
- No Upfront Fees: We work on a contingency basis, meaning you don’t pay unless we win your case.
- Proven Track Record: Our experienced attorneys have recovered millions of dollars for their clients.
- Transparent Communication: We keep you informed and involved, providing updates and answering your questions promptly.
- Client Centered Approach: We prioritize your needs and tailor our strategies to achieve the best possible outcome for you.
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