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When a drunk driver hurts you in Los Angeles, you may be owed far more than the insurance company first offers, and M&Y Personal Injury Lawyers pursues the full compensation that the crash calls for. Our aggressive trial lawyers step in to level the fight against the insurer, which is already working to pay you as little as possible.

We built our firm in 2013 to stand with injured people, not the corporations across the table. Our Los Angeles car accident lawyers have recovered over $800 million for clients throughout Southern California, including those injured in DUIs, and families who lost loved ones because of a drunk driver.

Our commitment to achieving strong results and providing exceptional client service has earned recognition from organizations including the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers Top 100. We are also proud to serve as the Official Law Firm and Partner of the LA Kings.

Our Los Angeles car accident attorneys work on a contingency basis. That means there are no upfront fees to retain our representation, and you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. Your free case review is only a phone call away at 866-864-5477.

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Table of Contents

How M&Y Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help After a DUI Accident in Los Angeles

Insurance companies swoop in fast after a crash and try to get you to accept an offer that falls far short of what your collision actually costs you. That is where we come in. When you hire our team for a drunk-driving accident injury claim, we:

  • Walk you through the California car accident claim process from the first call to the final check
  • Launch our own independent investigation into how and why the wreck happened
  • Review police reports, toxicology results, and other proof that support your case
  • Handle every phone call and negotiation with the insurance company so you don’t have to
  • Calculate your losses to capture the full scope of your injuries and missing income
  • Take your case to a jury if the insurer refuses to put a fair number on the table

We’ve secured numerous six-figure settlements and verdicts for people harmed by impaired drivers, and we give every case the immediate attention it warrants. The advocate you choose can shape everything that follows, so call us today and find out what we can do for you.

How Common Are DUI Accidents in LA?

Impaired driving remains stubbornly common across Los Angeles, even after decades of enforcement and awareness campaigns. The Transportation Injury Mapping System, run by the University of California, Berkeley, tracks every crash that injures or kills someone.

Its recent figures show how large the drunk- and drug-driving problem remains. Of the 40,041 injury- or fatality-related car accidents reported across Los Angeles County:

  • There were 2,115 alcohol-related crashes in the city
  • There were 5,504 alcohol-related collisions countywide
  • Alcohol accounted for 13.5% of all injury and fatal crashes across the county
  • Drug-related accidents accounted for 120 in the city
  • Drug-impaired collisions accounted for 351 countywide

Put those county numbers together, and about 16 crashes a day in Los Angeles County involve alcohol or drugs. That comes out to more than one impaired-driving wreck every 90 minutes, around the clock, all year long.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that impaired drivers account for roughly 30% of traffic deaths nationwide. Behind each figure is a person left with broken bones, a brain injury, or worse, and that is the reality our clients live with when they come to us for help.

What Is the Difference Between a Criminal and Civil DUI Lawsuit?

A single drunk-driving wreck can spark two completely separate legal actions. The criminal case belongs to the state, where a prosecutor charges the driver with a crime and seeks penalties like fines, license suspension, probation, or jail. You are a witness in that case, not a party, and even a guilty verdict sends no money your way.

The civil case belongs to you. In it, our Los Angeles drunk driving accident attorneys sue the at-fault driver on your behalf to recover the money you lost because of your injuries. The two run on parallel tracks, so a driver can face jail from the criminal court and a damages award from the civil court for the very same crash.

How a Criminal DUI Conviction Can Affect a Civil Claim for Damages

A criminal conviction can give your civil case a powerful head start. When a driver is convicted of or pleads guilty to driving under the influence, that outcome becomes strong proof of fault in your injury claim through a rule called negligence per se, which treats the violation of a safety law as automatic carelessness.

Our legal team can point to the conviction instead of proving from scratch that the driver acted unreasonably. That shortcut can shave months off a case and put real pressure on the insurance company to settle.

That said, a criminal case that ends in acquittal or dismissal does not sink your civil claim, because the two courts use different standards of proof. Criminal cases require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. In contrast, a civil claim only needs to show the driver was more likely than not at fault, which is a much lower bar to clear.

Who Can You Sue in a Drunk-Driving Accident?

More than one party may share the blame for an impaired-driving wreck. The intoxicated driver is the obvious defendant, but the money to cover a serious injury sometimes reaches beyond that one person.

Depending on the facts, a claim might also name:

  • An employer: if the driver was working at the time, such as a delivery or rideshare driver on the clock.
  • Vehicle or parts maker: if a defect made the wreck worse or harder to avoid.
  • Government agencies: if a poorly designed or badly maintained road contributed to the crash.
  • A licensed server: a business or person who served alcohol to an obviously drunk minor who then caused the wreck.
  • Social hosts: an adult who knowingly gives alcohol to a minor under 21 can also be held responsible if that minor causes a DUI crash. 

That last category is narrow in California, and it exists only through a specific exception. Under California Business and Professions Code § 25602.1, a bar, restaurant, or private host can be sued when it serves an obviously intoxicated person under 21 who then hurts or kills someone. Outside that scenario, the general rule points the finger squarely at the drinker.

Our Los Angeles car accident attorneys sort through every possible source of recovery so no responsible party slips away unnoticed. The more valid targets a claim identifies, the better your odds of fully covering a catastrophic injury.

What Compensation Is Available in a Los Angeles DUI Civil Claim?

A successful claim can put real money back in your pocket to cover what the wreck took from you. California law sorts damages into two main buckets, plus a special category reserved for cases such as drunk driving. The first bucket, economic damages, repays measurable financial losses, including:

  • Emergency care, surgeries, hospital stays, and follow-up treatment
  • Physical therapy, rehabilitation, medication, and future medical needs
  • Lost wages, overtime, bonuses, tips, and benefits
  • Reduced ability to earn a living going forward
  • Household service and childcare costs during recovery
  • Home modifications for disability
  • Vehicle repairs and other out-of-pocket costs

Non-economic damages make up the second bucket, and they cover harm that never shows up on a receipt, such as physical pain, emotional distress, and the loss of hobbies and activities you once loved.

Because drunk driving shows a conscious disregard for the safety of others, courts may award a special remedy, known as punitive damages, which are extra money meant to punish the driver and deter similar conduct. Our Los Angeles car accident lawyer team fights to capture every category that applies to your situation.

What Happens When You Lose a Loved One to DUI in Los Angeles?

The cruelest DUI crashes are the ones a family does not walk away from. When a drunk driver kills someone, California law lets close survivors bring a wrongful death claim to recover their own losses.

Under California Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60, a spouse, domestic partner, children, and certain other dependents may file this kind of case. A wrongful death claim can recover:

  • Funeral and burial costs
  • The income and support the person would have provided
  • Replacement value of household services
  • Harder losses of lost love, companionship, and guidance
  • Loss of inheritance

Money can never replace a person, and we know that. What it can do is steady a grieving family and hold the driver accountable for the life they took. Reach out to discuss a wrongful death claim.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for Filing a DUI Civil Lawsuit?

The clock starts running the moment a drunk-driving wreck happens, so time is one thing you cannot waste. In most Los Angeles DUI injury cases, California gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit. Miss that window, and the court will almost always throw the case out, no matter how clear the driver’s fault was.

Shorter deadlines apply in some situations. A claim against a public agency, such as one involving a city vehicle or a hazardous roadway, usually requires a formal government claim within six months.

Talking with our team early lets us protect your filing deadline while the proof is still fresh and reachable.

Evidence That Matters in a DUI Injury Case

Strong proof turns a promising claim into a winning one. Drunk-driving cases often come with a rich trail of evidence, and gathering it quickly makes all the difference. The pieces that carry the most weight include the following:

  • Chemical test results showing the driver’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC)
  • The police report and any DUI arrest or booking records
  • Body-camera and dashboard-camera footage from responding officers
  • Surveillance or traffic-camera video that captured the wreck
  • Statements from witnesses who saw the driver before or during the crash
  • Receipts or tabs showing where the driver had been drinking
  • Pictures of the accident scene and injuries

Our Los Angeles car accident lawyers act quickly to preserve important evidence before surveillance footage is overwritten and witness memories begin to fade. We then use that evidence to build a strong claim, and when appropriate, work with accident reconstruction and medical professionals to clearly link the collision to your injuries.

FAQs: Los Angeles DUI Accident Lawyer

These questions cover the practical concerns people raise once they decide to take action after a drunk-driving crash.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire Your Firm For a DUI Claim?

Nothing upfront. We take drunk-driving injury cases on contingency, which means you pay us only if we recover money for you, and our fee comes as a percentage of that recovery. The arrangement lets people who are already stretched thin by medical bills get skilled representation without writing a check to start.

You may still have a path to compensation through the uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy. Many California drivers carry it without realizing how valuable it becomes in exactly this situation. We review every policy that might apply and pursue each available source of recovery.

Very likely, yes. California uses a pure comparative fault system, so your award is trimmed by your percentage of blame rather than erased. If you were found 20% responsible and your damages came to $100,000, you could still collect $80,000.

It depends on the severity of your injuries and whether the insurer bargains in good faith. Some claims settle in a matter of months, while collisions involving serious harm or a stubborn insurance company can take a year or more, especially if they head toward trial. We push for a prompt and fair resolution without ever shortchanging the value of your claim.

Never without legal advice first. Early offers are usually low, designed to close your claim before the full cost of your injuries becomes clear. Let our team review any offer, since we once worked for major insurers and know exactly how these opening numbers get calculated.

Talk to Our Los Angeles DUI Accident Team Today

Car accident lawyerA drunk driver changed your life in an instant, but the road forward does not have to be one you travel alone. Our award-winning Los Angeles car accident lawyers bring more than a century of combined courtroom experience and over 1,400 five-star reviews to the people we serve, and someone is available to take your call any hour of the day or night. You will always be a person to us, never a file number.

Because we work on contingency, hiring us costs you nothing unless we win, which removes the financial pressure at the worst possible moment to be worrying about legal fees. Our former insurance-defense background means we know how these companies build their playbook, and we use that knowledge to push for everything your car accident case is worth.

Call M&Y Personal Injury Lawyers at 866-864-5477 now for a no-cost, no-pressure, no-obligation consultation, and let us carry the legal weight while you heal.

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Visit our headquarters in LA to get the assistance you need, our law firm is located at 6300 Wilshire Blvd Suite 807, Los Angeles, CA 90048.

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