-    Drunk driving accidents cost our country over $100 billion a year in both money and loss of quality of life.
-    In California, drunk driving accidents often involve under-insured or uninsured drivers. This can make it difficult to get fair compensation for your injuries from an insurance company. An experienced California drunk driving accident attorney can help you get the money you need for your medical bills and needs.
-    If you have been injured in a California drunk driving accident, you may have a right to sue the driver to recover the costs of your injuries. In addition, you may be able to sue for medical bills, lost wages and property damage. Under some circumstances, you may be able to sue for loss of quality of life.
-    If a family member was killed in a drunk driving accident, you or the estate may have the right to bring a wrongful death suit against the drunk driver.
-    Under certain circumstances, you may be able to sue third parties who contributed to the drunk driving accident. Those third parties may include private persons who served liquor to the driver and allowed him to leave, or bars, restaurants and other public places that served liquor to the intoxicated driver.
-    In addition to those who may have served a visibly intoxicated person, there are other third parties who may be legally liable for a portion of the damages caused in a drunk driving accident. Those people include passengers in the vehicle with the drunk driver who may have aided the driver in getting drunk and police officers who had an opportunity to prevent a driver from driving drunk but did not.

Common Law Claims in Drunk Driving Accidents
A person injured in a California drunk driving accident may bring a civil suit against the drunk driver under common law, citing negligence. In order to prove a negligence claim and collect damages, the injured person must be able to prove

-    that the driver had a duty to operate the car safely
-    that the driver breached that duty
-    that the driver’s breach of duty resulted in injury to the plaintiff
-    and that the plaintiff suffered damages which are legally compensable

In many jurisdictions in California, the very fact that the driver was operating a vehicle while intoxicated is enough to prove negligence, however the plaintiff will still have to prove that the drunk driver’s actions were the cause of his injuries.

If you are injured by a drunk driver in a California car accident, you should take the following actions immediately:

-    Get medical attention for yourself and others who may have been injured in the accident.
-    Contact the police and request a copy of the accident report.
-    Document as much as you can about the accident, including the names and contact information of any witnesses to the accident.
-    Contact a lawyer who is experienced in dealing with drunk driving accidents.

There are many people who experience a variety of physical injuries following their involvement in Los Angeles drunk driving accidents. Some of these injuries can easily include severe whiplash, broken bones, serious fractures, and even brain or spinal injury. A majority of these injuries can heal with time and proper medical attention. The emotional trauma that one may experience following their injuries, however, can be more lasting and even more detrimental. Although the court system will find ways to punish those individuals who cause drunk driving accidents and injuries, they often do not provide any sort of reparation to those who are the victims of these crimes. This is why it’s so important to contact a drunk driving injury law firm immediately following your accident. Your lawyer will fight for you to receive the compensation you need to care for the physical and emotional damages you’ve likely suffered.

In some cases, vehicular damage is the only inconvenience one may incur from a drunk driving accident. This in itself, however, can be an incredibly costly nuisance for one to handle. Insurance companies are infamously hard to deal with, especially when they are in circumstances that require them to compensate their customers for damages or injuries. Your insurance company may argue that they are unwillingly to pay for the cost of damages to your vehicle because of the high cost or because they supposedly don’t financially cover certain aspects of your accident. This is just another reason you should contact a California drunk driving injury lawyer. He or she can speak directly with your insurance company and may be able to legally require them to cover the costs of your accident without giving you grief. This action alone can save you from the headache and hassle that seems to be a natural side effect of dealing with insurance companies.

Your drunk driving injury lawyer will also be able to help you determine a just amount to pursue for your settlement. This amount will vary in accordance with the injuries and damages you’ve incurred, so you’ll need the help of your lawyer to decide how much your claim is worth. Pursuing too much or too little can mean the difference between winning what you deserve or losing your settlement opportunity altogether.