There are several ways for you to get caught in a vehicular accident, but the worst one is involving a drunk driver. After all, if most drivers are mindful enough not to drink any alcohol as they’re fully aware of the consequences that drunk driving can bring, why did the drunk driver who had injured you not think the same thing as well? For you to hold the drunk driver who caused a vehicular accident accountable for the injuries that the said incident inflicted on you, here are some things that you can do under the law:
- File a compensation claim against the drunk driver’s insurance provider.
Your anger over the drunk driving accident that caused you your injuries may have already run so deep that you want to drag the driver who did it to you to court and get them behind bars for what they did to you. However, letting your emotions take control of you won’t help you attain a speedy recovery at all.
- Instead, you should get the contact information of the insurance provider of the drunk driver who caused the accident and make a compensation claim against them.
- The drunk driver’s insurance provider is then supposed to offer you an initial settlement amount indicating that they’re willing to shoulder all the medical costs that you’ve incurred as a result of your drunk driving accident-related injuries.
- Settle out of court with the drunk driver and their defense attorney.
But if you feel that the initial settlement amount being offered to you by the drunk driver’s insurance provider isn’t enough to cover all your medical costs, you and the drunk driver along with your respective attorneys can settle out of court.
- It’s entirely up to you if you want to settle out of court either through mediation or arbitration.
- The outcome of the out of court settlement between you and the drunk driver who caused the accident that injured you should ideally be that both of you have reached upon a final settlement amount that serves as your rightful compensation.
- File a lawsuit against the drunk driver.
However, if the drunk driver doesn’t want to settle out of court, or they don’t have any auto insurance at all, you can lodge a formal complaint against them in court where the judge who’ll hear your case can require them to produce the compensation amount that you’re supposed to receive. Lawsuits take time to hear though which is why you should only use the said legal option as a last resort measure.
According to the nonprofit organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving, someone gets injured as a result of a road accident involving a drunk driver every two minutes. Avoiding from being a part of that said statistic is of course your objective, and yet you suddenly found yourself included in it after you’ve sustained several injuries as a result of a drunk driving accident. But with the help of a competent lawyer, you can do the above-listed things to legally get justly compensated for the drunk driving accident-related injuries that you’ve sustained.
