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An insurance company will spend more effort questioning your injuries than it spends on the fact that its driver was drunk. That is the reality injured people run into after a DUI crash, and it is backwards.
If a drunk driver hurts you in Bradenton, a drunk driving accident attorney in Bradenton at Legler, Murphy & Battaglia, LLP can hold both the driver and the insurer to account and pursue full payment for your medical care, lost income, and pain. We have represented injured people across Southwest Florida since 1989.
The impairment is not really in dispute. Whether you get treated fairly is, and that is where we come in.
Not sure where your crash leaves you?
Call our office at 941-748-5599 for a free case evaluation.
How Do You Prove the Other Driver Was Actually Drunk?
You prove it with the evidence the crash and the arrest already created. In most DUI cases, the proof of impairment is stronger than in an ordinary crash, and that works in your favor.
The building blocks are usually the police crash report, the officer’s observations, any field sobriety results, and breath or blood test readings from the arrest. Those records, along with witness accounts and video from nearby businesses, tie the driver’s impairment to the crash. We move quickly to request and preserve them, because footage in particular gets recorded over fast.
The stronger this proof, the harder it is for the insurer to pretend the crash was a normal accident.
Can the Bar That Overserved the Driver Be Held Responsible?
Sometimes, but Florida’s rule is narrow. A bar or vendor is generally not liable just for serving alcohol to an adult, so this only applies in specific situations.
Under Florida Statute 768.125, a vendor can be liable if it knowingly served someone under 21, or knowingly served a person it knew was habitually addicted to alcohol. That matters in a place like downtown Bradenton, where the Riverwalk district and the bars along the US-41 corridor stay busy. Proving a dram shop claim, which is the legal term for this kind of vendor liability, takes fast work to secure receipts, server records, and video before they are gone. We look at whether a third party shares the blame in every drunk driving case, because it can mean another source of payment.
Think a bar overserved the driver who hit you? Call (941) 748-5599 so we can move before evidence disappears.
What Happens If the Drunk Driver Had No Insurance?
You may still recover through your own policy. A surprising number of drunk drivers carry little or no insurance, and Florida drivers can protect themselves against exactly that with uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.
This coverage, known as UM or UIM, is something you add to your own auto policy, and it pays when the at-fault driver cannot. If you have it, it can step in when the drunk driver is uninsured or carries a minimum policy that does not come close to covering your injuries. Many people do not realize they have this coverage until we review their policy.
Figuring out every layer of insurance that applies, and stacking it correctly, is a core part of what our Bradenton car accident attorneys do on these cases.
Can You Get Punitive Damages From a Drunk Driver in Florida?
Often, yes. Drunk driving is one of the situations where Florida allows punitive damages, which are extra damages meant to punish reckless conduct on top of repaying your losses.
Ordinary crashes rarely qualify, but choosing to drive drunk is the kind of conscious disregard for other people’s safety that can support them. A court has to approve pursuing punitive damages and there are limits, but the possibility changes how a DUI claim is valued and negotiated. It is one more reason not to accept the insurer’s first number.
How long do you have to file a drunk driving injury claim in Bradenton?
In most cases, two years from the date of the crash. Florida Statute 95.11 sets a two-year deadline for negligence claims, and once it passes you usually lose the right to recover.
That clock runs even while you are still treating. Waiting risks both the deadline and the evidence, since records and footage from a Bradenton DUI crash do not stay available for long. If the crash was fatal, the family should speak with our Bradenton wrongful death attorneys as soon as possible, because those claims carry their own deadline.
Filing deadlines can change and narrow exceptions exist. Confirm your date with an attorney.
Why Drunk Driving Crashes Hit Hard in Bradenton
Impaired driving is one of the most dangerous choices on any road, and Bradenton’s mix of nightlife and busy corridors puts that risk close to home. The danger is not abstract, it is on the roads people drive every day.
Drivers leave the downtown Riverwalk district, the bars along 14th Street West, and spots out toward the beaches on State Road 64, then get on roads like US-41 and Cortez Road. When an impaired driver is involved, the impact tends to be worse because they never brake, which is one reason the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration treats drunk driving as a top safety priority.
Cases that do not settle are litigated in the 12th Judicial Circuit at the Manatee County Courthouse in downtown Bradenton, and we know how matters move there.
What a Bradenton DUI accident lawyer does for you
We build the case, take on the insurers, and try it to a jury if the offer is not fair. From the first day we treat a drunk driving claim as one that may end in court, and we prepare it that way.
That means securing the impairment evidence, finding every insurance policy that could pay, working with your doctors so the medical record is complete, and handling the calls and paperwork so you can focus on getting better. Pedestrians are frequent victims of impaired drivers too, and our Bradenton pedestrian accident attorneys handle those specific cases.
You pay nothing up front. You don’t pay until and unless we win your case.
Ready to put the pressure back on them? Call (941) 748-5599.
What If You Were Partly at Fault for the Crash?
You can still recover as long as you were not mostly to blame. Florida uses modified comparative negligence under Florida Statute 768.81, which reduces your recovery by your share of fault. You are barred from recovery only if you are found more than 50 percent at fault. In drunk driving cases the blame almost always sits with the impaired driver, but insurers still try to assign you a slice to shrink what they pay. Do not accept their version on a phone call. Let the evidence sort it out first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Your injury claim is a separate civil case and does not have to wait for the criminal case to finish. In fact, evidence coming out of the criminal case can strengthen your claim. Starting early helps preserve proof before it is lost.
You likely still have a claim. As an injured passenger, you can generally pursue the driver’s insurance and, depending on the facts, other coverage as well. Being in the car does not make the crash your fault, and it does not bar you from recovering for your injuries.
Give them only the basics until you have spoken with a lawyer. Report the crash to your own insurer as your policy requires, but do not give the at-fault driver’s insurance company a recorded statement, do not accept a quick settlement, and do not sign anything. In a DUI case the insurer already knows the claim is strong, so its first move is to get you talking.
It depends on the injuries and whether the insurer negotiates fairly. Some claims resolve in months, while cases with serious injuries or a lawsuit take longer. We do not rush a settlement before your medical picture is clear, because that is when the claim is most likely to be undervalued.
Talk to a Bradenton Drunk Driving Accident Attorney Today
You did not cause this, and you should not have to fight the insurance company alone on top of recovering. Legler, Murphy & Battaglia, LLP has stood up for injured people in Bradenton and across Southwest Florida since 1989, and the first case review is free.
All Injuries. All The Time.
Call 941-748-5599 now, or reach out online to get started.
