The Cold, Hard Facts About Drunk Driving

This holiday season, the Law Office of Ben W. Lieberman encourages everyone to celebrate responsibly.  As stated by University of Utah punter and kicker Louie Sakota, if you drink, don’t drive; “punt the keys.”   

However, if you choose to drink and drive, here are the cold, hard facts.  If you are involved in an accident and injure or kill someone while you are drunk behind the wheel of a car or motorcycle, you will be sued.  You will be presumed negligent at trial because you were drinking and driving, and a jury will have little sympathy for you.  Put simply, you will lose.

If you are like the average person, you probably have auto insurance liability limits of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident, or less.  If an injury that you cause is even moderately significant, those amounts will not cover the judgment against you at trial.  Even low-speed auto accidents involving two cars, a car and a motorcycle, or a car and a pedestrian, can and often do cause result in significant injuries.  And don't forget, you will be responsible for injuries caused to your passengers.  

The injured party, or the estate of that party if you end up killing someone, will execute the legal judgment on your personal assets—your home, car, 401(k), and whatever else you may have—and will garnish your wages.   In addition, you will face criminal liability, including the possibility of imprisonment.

The Law Office of Ben W. Lieberman wishes you a happy and safe holiday season and New Year.  Please don’t let one bad choice to drink and drive ruin life for you, for someone you injure or kill, and that victim’s friends and family.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of a drunk driver, contact the Law Office of Ben W. Lieberman to pursue that person to the fullest extent of the civil justice system.