The Real Cost of Drunk Driving in Florida: What Victims Need to Know

A drunk driving crash is not an accident in any meaningful sense. Someone chose to drink and chose to drive, and a family on the other end pays for it: in surgeries, in lost income, sometimes in a funeral. Florida law treats these cases differently from ordinary negligence claims in several ways that work in the victim’s favor. Here is what you should know.

The scale of the problem in Florida

Alcohol-impaired driving kills hundreds of people in Florida every year and injures thousands more, and South Florida’s bar districts, highways and late-night traffic put Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties near the top of the list. The crashes cluster on weekends, around holidays, and in the hours after bars close. Behind each statistic is a victim who did nothing wrong.

The criminal case and the civil case are separate

The State Attorney prosecutes the driver for DUI under section 316.193. That case can result in jail, probation, a license suspension and restitution, but it is not designed to compensate you. Your civil claim is separate, is controlled by you and your lawyer, and has a lower burden of proof. A drunk driver who is acquitted, or who pleads to a lesser charge, can still be held fully liable in civil court. The criminal case is, however, a source of evidence: breath or blood test results, the arrest report, body-camera footage, and the driver’s plea.

Damages you can recover

A drunk driving injury claim can recover the same compensatory damages as any serious crash:

• Medical expenses, past and future
• Lost wages and lost earning capacity
• Pain and suffering, mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life
• Disfigurement and scarring
• Property damage
• In a fatal crash, the damages Florida’s Wrongful Death Act provides to the surviving family

Punitive damages, with no cap

This is the biggest difference. Florida allows punitive damages, which are meant to punish and deter rather than compensate, when the defendant’s conduct amounts to intentional misconduct or gross negligence. Driving drunk is the textbook example. Most punitive awards in Florida are capped at three times compensatory damages or $500,000, but section 768.736 removes the cap entirely when the defendant was under the influence of alcohol or drugs to the extent that his normal faculties were impaired, or had a blood or breath alcohol level of 0.08 or higher. Juries respond to drunk driving, and insurers know it.

Who else may be responsible

The driver is rarely the only source of recovery, which matters because drunk drivers are frequently underinsured.

• Bars and restaurants. Florida’s dram shop law, section 768.125, is narrow: a business that serves alcohol is liable only if it knowingly served a person under 21, or served a person it knew to be habitually addicted to alcohol. Within those limits, a bar that kept pouring for a known alcoholic, or served a 19-year-old, can be a defendant.
• Social hosts. Florida generally does not hold hosts liable for serving adults, but an adult who allows underage drinking at a residence can face liability under the state’s open house party law.
• Vehicle owners. Under the dangerous instrumentality doctrine, the owner of the car the drunk driver was using may be liable.
• Employers. If the driver was working, the employer may be responsible.
• Your own insurer. Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage pays when the drunk driver’s policy is too small, and it is the single most important coverage a Florida driver can buy.

Evidence that wins these cases

Act quickly. Request the crash report and the arrest affidavit, preserve 911 recordings and nearby surveillance video, identify where the driver was drinking and for how long, and obtain the toxicology results. Receipts, rideshare records and bar tabs disappear. A preservation letter from your lawyer in the first week can make the difference.

Deadlines

A negligence claim in Florida generally must be filed within two years of the crash; a wrongful death claim within two years of the death. Punitive damages must be specifically pleaded with court permission, which is another reason to involve a lawyer early. Our deadline checker gives a general timeline.

We hold drunk drivers, and everyone behind them, accountable

If a drunk driver injured you or took someone from you, the law gives you more tools than in an ordinary crash. We use all of them. Call The Injury Advocates at (754) 812-8444 or 833-DARFOOR, or send us a message. The consultation is free, and you owe no fees or costs unless we recover for you. Learn more about how our car accident lawyers handle DUI injury and wrongful death cases.