A drunk driving arrest does not pay hospital bills, replace lost income, or repair a family’s future. The criminal case punishes the driver. An injured person must bring a separate civil claim to recover compensation.
Cowen | Rodriguez | Peacock investigates beyond the arrest report. We secure blood-test evidence, body camera footage, bar records, receipts, video, phone data, and insurance policies. When the driver or insurer refuses full accountability, we prepare the case for trial.
Where the Civil Case Goes Beyond the DWI Charge
- A criminal prosecution and a civil injury claim are separate legal proceedings.
- The drunk driver’s liability insurer is often the first source of payment, but it may not be the only one.
- Texas allows injured people to pursue economic and noneconomic damages supported by the evidence.
- Exemplary damages can become available when clear and convincing evidence proves gross negligence.
- A bar, restaurant, employer, rideshare company, or vehicle owner can share liability in the right case.
- Most Texas personal injury lawsuits carry a two-year filing deadline, but important evidence disappears much sooner.
What compensation can you recover after a drunk driving accident in Texas?
A person injured by a drunk driver can pursue medical expenses, lost income, reduced earning ability, property losses, pain, impairment, and potentially exemplary damages, while additional claims may exist against a bar, employer, vehicle owner, or other responsible party.
Can You Sue a Drunk Driver in Texas?
Yes. You can sue a drunk driver when that person’s unsafe conduct causes a collision and resulting losses. The civil claim does not depend on the prosecutor obtaining a DWI conviction.
The Civil Case Seeks Compensation
A civil lawsuit focuses on the harm caused by the crash. The injured person must prove that the driver acted negligently or engaged in other legally actionable conduct, caused the collision, and created measurable damages.
The claim can seek payment for:
- Medical treatment
- Future care
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning capacity
- Vehicle damage
- Physical pain
- Mental anguish
- Physical impairment
- Disfigurement
A wrongful death and survival case can arise when the collision proves fatal.
The Criminal Case Seeks Punishment
The State of Texas controls the DWI prosecution. The prosecutor decides which charges to bring and whether to negotiate a plea or take the case to trial.
The injured person does not control that prosecution. A dismissal, reduced charge, or acquittal does not automatically defeat the civil case because civil claims use different legal standards and evidence rules.
The Claims Can Proceed at the Same Time
The civil investigation should not wait for the criminal case to end. Video can be erased, witnesses can disappear, and businesses can discard receipts or employee records.
Cowen | Rodriguez | Peacock coordinates requests for criminal-case evidence while independently building the injury claim.
What Compensation Is Available After a Drunk Driving Accident?
Texas allows recovery for the financial and personal losses caused by the collision. The value depends on injury severity, future needs, insurance coverage, liability evidence, and the effect on the injured person’s life.
| Type of Compensation | What It Can Include |
| Medical losses | Emergency care, surgery, rehabilitation, medication, equipment, and future treatment |
| Income losses | Missed wages, lost business income, employment benefits, and reduced earning capacity |
| Property losses | Vehicle repairs, total-loss value, towing, storage, rental costs, and diminished value |
| Personal losses | Physical pain, mental anguish, impairment, and disfigurement |
| Fatal-crash losses | Wrongful death damages and losses belonging to the deceased person’s estate |
| Exemplary damages | Additional damages intended to punish and deter grossly negligent conduct |
Medical Expenses and Future Care
A claim can include reasonable medical expenses already incurred and care expected in the future. Serious injuries may require rehabilitation, assistive equipment, home modifications, or long-term support.
We do not value a case from the first stack of bills. We investigate what the injuries will cost over time and what treatment the medical evidence supports.
Lost Income and Reduced Earning Ability
Past lost wages cover income already missed. Reduced earning capacity addresses the lasting effect on the person’s ability to earn.
An injured person may return to work and still lose overtime, physical duties, advancement opportunities, or an entire career path. Employment, vocational, and economic evidence can establish that future loss.
Pain, Impairment, and Disfigurement
A serious collision causes losses that do not appear on an invoice. Physical pain, mental anguish, permanent limitations, and visible scarring can form substantial parts of the claim.
We use medical records, photographs, personal accounts, witness testimony, and evidence of lost activities to show the human impact.
Can You Recover Exemplary Damages From a Drunk Driver?
Exemplary damages can be available when the evidence proves fraud, malice, or gross negligence by clear and convincing evidence. Intoxication can support that claim, but exemplary damages are not automatic in every drunk driving case.
Gross Negligence Requires More Than Ordinary Carelessness
Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 41, gross negligence requires an extreme degree of risk and proof that the defendant had actual, subjective awareness of that risk but proceeded with conscious indifference.
Evidence can include:
- A highly elevated alcohol concentration
- Heavy drinking immediately before driving
- Prior warnings not to drive
- Statements showing awareness of impairment
- Extreme speeding or reckless driving
- Fleeing after the collision
- Prior similar conduct when legally admissible
- Combining alcohol with impairing drugs
We build the exemplary-damages claim from admissible evidence rather than assuming the arrest alone will carry it.
Exemplary Damages Serve a Different Purpose
Compensatory damages repay proven losses. Exemplary damages punish especially dangerous conduct and deter similar behavior.
Texas generally limits exemplary damages through statutory caps. The calculation depends on the compensatory damages awarded and whether a statutory exception applies.
Insurance Coverage Can Become Disputed
An insurer can challenge whether its policy covers exemplary damages. The answer depends on policy language, the defendant, and Texas law.
That makes it important to identify every compensatory loss and every available policy rather than relying on exemplary damages as the only path to a meaningful recovery.
Can a Bar or Restaurant Be Liable for Serving the Driver?
A licensed alcohol provider can be liable when it serves an obviously intoxicated customer who presents a clear danger and that intoxication proximately causes the crash. This is commonly called a Texas dram shop claim.
Texas Sets a Specific Dram Shop Standard
Under Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Section 2.02, liability can arise when it was apparent to the provider at the time of service that the customer was obviously intoxicated to the extent that the person presented a clear danger to self and others.
The evidence must also connect the intoxication to the damages.
The Driver’s Receipt Is Only the Beginning
A dram shop investigation can include:
- Credit card and itemized receipts
- Surveillance footage
- Point-of-sale records
- Witness statements
- Bartender and server testimony
- Tab opening and closing times
- Food and alcohol orders
- Training records
- Text messages and social media posts
- Rideshare activity
- Blood-alcohol analysis
The key issue is what the staff saw or should have recognized when the final drinks were served.
Social Host Liability Is Much Narrower
Texas does not impose broad social host liability every time an adult serves alcohol to another adult. A limited claim can exist when an adult provides alcohol to a minor under 18 or allows the minor to be served under circumstances covered by the statute.
The host’s relationship to the minor and knowledge of the service matter. A complete investigation must establish the statutory requirements rather than assuming every party host is liable.
Who Else Can Be Responsible for the Drunk Driving Crash?
The intoxicated driver is often the primary defendant, but employment, vehicle ownership, rideshare activity, and negligent entrustment can add responsible parties.
An Employer Can Share Liability
An employer can be responsible when an employee causes a collision while acting within the course and scope of assigned work.
The company can also face direct claims when supported by evidence of:
- Unsafe hiring
- Negligent retention
- Inadequate supervision
- Knowledge of prior alcohol-related driving problems
- Failure to enforce vehicle-use policies
- Entrusting a company vehicle to an unsafe driver
Work assignments, time records, company messages, and vehicle documents help determine whether business-related coverage applies.
A Vehicle Owner Can Face a Negligent Entrustment Claim
A vehicle owner can be liable for allowing an unlicensed, incompetent, reckless, or otherwise unsafe person to drive when the owner knew or should have known about the danger.
The claim requires evidence about the driver’s history and the owner’s knowledge. Ownership alone does not automatically establish liability.
Rideshare and Commercial Policies Can Apply
An Uber or Lyft policy can become relevant when the intoxicated driver was active on the app. Commercial coverage can also apply to delivery drivers, sales employees, contractors, or other workers.
We secure app status, GPS information, trip records, dispatch communications, and policy documents before companies shift responsibility to one another.
What Evidence Proves the Driver Was Intoxicated?
A DWI crash case should not depend on one police conclusion. The strongest claim combines chemical testing, officer observations, electronic records, witnesses, and evidence showing where the alcohol came from.
Police and Testing Evidence
We pursue:
- Blood and breath test results
- Body camera and dashcam footage
- Field sobriety test recordings
- Arrest and crash reports
- Emergency communications
- Officer and witness statements
- Hospital toxicology records when legally obtainable
- Criminal court filings
A blood-test result must be connected to the driver and supported by proper collection, handling, and analysis.
Video, Receipts, and Phone Data
Business video can show when the driver arrived, how the person behaved, and whether staff continued serving alcohol. Receipts can establish the number and timing of purchases.
Phone records, navigation history, texts, and social media activity can show where the driver had been and what the person said before driving.
Vehicle Evidence Establishes How Intoxication Caused the Crash
Intoxication must be connected to the collision. Vehicle data, roadway evidence, and witnesses can show speeding, late braking, lane departure, running a light, or failing to react.
Cowen | Rodriguez | Peacock prepares the intoxication and crash evidence as one trial-ready case.
What Should Injured People Protect After the Crash?
The days and weeks after a drunk driving collision should focus on treatment, documentation, and evidence preservation. The criminal investigation does not protect every record needed for the civil claim.
Keep Records Showing the Full Loss
Consider preserving:
- Medical bills and appointment records
- Wage and employment information
- Vehicle photographs and repair documents
- Towing and rental receipts
- Witness contact information
- Insurance correspondence
- Information about where the driver had been drinking
- Notes about activities and work the injuries prevent
Avoid Signing an Early Release
A liability insurer can make an offer before the criminal case ends or the medical future becomes clear. Signing a release usually closes the civil claim permanently.
We identify every defendant, policy, medical loss, reimbursement issue, and future damage before evaluating a final settlement.
How Long Do You Have to Sue a Drunk Driver in Texas?
Texas generally gives an injured person two years to file a personal injury lawsuit. A criminal prosecution does not automatically pause that deadline.
The General Deadline Is Two Years
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003 generally requires a personal injury lawsuit to be filed within two years after the claim accrues. An action for injury resulting in death generally accrues on the date of death.
Evidence Has a Shorter Life
The filing deadline does not preserve:
- Bar surveillance footage
- Receipts and point-of-sale data
- Vehicle event data
- Phone and app records
- Witness memories
- Damaged vehicles
- Employee schedules and training records
We begin preservation work while the criminal and civil evidence still exists.
Texas Drunk Driving Accident Questions Answered by Our Attorneys
Can I sue if the driver was never convicted of DWI?
Yes. A civil claim does not require a DWI conviction. The evidence must prove negligence, causation, and damages under the civil standard.
Can a passenger sue the drunk driver?
Yes. An injured passenger can pursue the driver and any other responsible party, including a provider, employer, vehicle owner, or insurer when the evidence supports those claims.
What if the drunk driver had no insurance?
Uninsured motorist coverage can apply when the responsible driver lacks insurance. PIP, collision, health coverage, and claims against additional defendants can also provide recovery.
Can I recover if I was partly at fault?
Texas permits recovery when the injured person is 50 percent or less responsible. Compensation is reduced by the assigned percentage.
Does the criminal court order compensation for all my losses?
Criminal restitution can address certain losses, but it does not replace a complete civil injury claim. The civil case can pursue broader categories of damages.
Accountability Does Not End With an Arrest
A DWI arrest starts the criminal process. It does not identify every responsible business, uncover every insurance policy, or calculate what the collision will cost over a lifetime.
Cowen | Rodriguez | Peacock investigates the driver, alcohol provider, employer, vehicle owner, and every source of recovery. Clients speak directly with a Texas drunk driving accident attorney, and we prepare serious drunk driving accident cases for trial from the beginning.
Call Cowen | Rodriguez | Peacock at (210) 941-1301 for a free consultation. We are available 24/7, and there is No Cost to You unless we win.