The driver who hit you was drunk. That much you know. What you may not know is that the bar or restaurant that kept serving them after visible signs of intoxication can be held financially liable for your injuries under Texas law, often through a commercial insurance policy that dwarfs what the driver carries.
That second claim is what most injured people never pursue, because nobody tells them it exists.
The San Antonio drunk driving accident lawyers at Cowen Rodriguez Peacock handle both claims simultaneously. The driver's policy and, where the facts support it, the establishment's liquor liability coverage. Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003, you have two years from the date of the crash to file, but the evidence that supports the bar liability claim disappears in weeks, not months.
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Can the Bar That Served the Driver Be Held Liable?
In many San Antonio DWI crash cases, yes. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Section 2.02, the Texas Dram Shop Act, creates liability for alcohol-serving establishments that overserve a visibly intoxicated patron who then causes injury.
Two elements must be proven. First, the establishment served someone who was obviously intoxicated to the point of presenting a clear danger. Second, that intoxication proximately caused your injuries.
"Obviously intoxicated" is where this claim lives or dies, and it is the detail that most attorneys handle incorrectly. A blood alcohol result from a later draw does not, on its own, establish obvious intoxication at the point of service. Proving that element requires witness accounts, staff statements, point-of-sale records, and contemporaneous surveillance footage.
Bar receipts, employee schedules, and security footage are routinely purged within 30 to 60 days. A dram shop claim that is not preserved within days of the crash is frequently a dram shop claim that cannot be proven at all.
Cowen Rodriguez Peacock sends legal holds to establishments immediately upon retention. That step alone separates a viable dram shop claim from a missed one.
The practical reason this matters: a driver who caused your crash may carry Texas minimum auto coverage, while a commercial establishment's liquor liability policy typically carries limits far higher. When injuries are serious, that gap determines whether your recovery is partial or complete.
Find out whether a dram shop claim applies to your situation: call (210) 941-1306.
Why Bars Deny Responsibility in Every Case
Bars and restaurants rarely admit overservice at the time of demand. Their first response is typically denial, even in cases where intoxication appears obvious on video or through witness accounts. This is not unique to San Antonio. It is standard practice across Texas alcohol liability claims because establishments understand how narrowly courts interpret “obvious intoxication” under the Dram Shop Act.
Employees are often trained to minimize written statements and avoid language that suggests a customer was impaired. Security footage, when available, may show relevant behavior such as repeated stumbling, slurred speech, or refusal to comply with staff instructions, but that footage is rarely preserved unless a legal hold is issued immediately. Without early intervention, the case becomes a dispute between recollection and missing evidence, which strongly favors the defense.
How Does a Drunk Driving Civil Claim Work in Bexar County?
Two legal tracks run simultaneously after a DWI crash: the criminal case Bexar County prosecutors control, and the civil claim you control. The outcomes interact, but they operate independently.
Bexar County's prosecution posture is meaningfully different from neighboring counties. The Bexar County District Attorney's Office has adopted a policy restricting plea reductions for DWI defendants when the blood alcohol concentration exceeded 0.15, when a crash occurred, or when the defendant had a prior DWI history. That policy means the driver who hit you faces a more demanding criminal process than in most surrounding jurisdictions.
A criminal conviction or guilty plea becomes admissible evidence in your civil case, establishing intoxication as a fact and removing a central dispute. Our attorneys monitor the criminal docket from the start and time civil strategy around it. Cases filed in Bexar County go through courts at the Cadena Reeves Justice Center at 300 Dolorosa Street, where Cowen Rodriguez Peacock attorneys appear regularly.
Critically, the civil case does not wait for the criminal outcome. You do not need a conviction to recover. Insurers often use the pending criminal case as a reason to slow settlement discussions, hoping you accept a lower offer before the criminal record is established. Knowing that tactic in advance is part of what an experienced trial firm brings to the table.
What Evidence Needs to Be Preserved, and How Quickly?
This is the question that separates strong DWI claims from ones that settle for less than they are worth.
Police reports and the blood or breathalyzer draw are the starting point, not the finish line. Surveillance footage from the crash scene and nearby businesses is typically overwritten on a 30-day cycle. Witness accounts become less precise with time. The establishments where the driver was drinking purge point-of-sale records and staff schedules within 60 days as a matter of routine.
An attorney who waits several weeks to issue preservation notices is an attorney who may be working with a thinner file. Cowen Rodriguez Peacock acts on preservation immediately, treating the evidence window, not the filing deadline, as the controlling timeline.
In DWI cases involving bars or restaurants, preservation must also extend beyond the crash scene. This includes bar tabs, credit card receipts, point-of-sale timestamps, and staff scheduling logs that show which employees were working during the service window. These records help establish not just that alcohol was served, but how frequently and over what period.
Witness identification is also time-sensitive. Patrons who were present at the establishment the night of the crash often leave the area quickly and become difficult to locate later. Early investigative steps focus on locking down these identities before memory fades or contact information becomes outdated.
The strength of the entire claim often depends on actions taken within the first 72 hours.
The two-year filing deadline under Section 16.003 keeps the courthouse open. The preservation window determines what you walk in with.
What Compensation Can You Recover?
A complete DWI injury claim in Texas accounts for every measurable and non-measurable loss.
Catastrophic injury claims involving spinal cord, traumatic brain, or orthopedic injuries often carry future-care costs that extend for years. An accurate projection of those costs, supported by medical and economic testimony, is frequently the largest component of the claim.
Lost income and earning capacity. Wages are lost during recovery and, in catastrophic cases, the long-term income loss that results when injuries prevent a return to prior work.
Pain, suffering, and mental anguish. Texas law allows compensation for the physical toll and the emotional reality, including post-traumatic stress and the loss of activities and relationships the injury has affected.
Wrongful death damages. If a family member died in the crash, recoverable amounts include funeral costs, lost financial support, loss of companionship, and the mental anguish of surviving family members under the Texas Wrongful Death Act.
Punitive damages. Texas courts award punitive damages in DWI cases when the driver's conduct rises to gross negligence. A significantly elevated blood alcohol level, a prior DWI record, or a driver who was warned and drove anyway all strengthen a punitive damages argument. Courts treat drunk driving as conduct that qualifies, not conduct that might qualify.
In cases involving both driver intoxication and dram shop liability, recovery may come from multiple insurance layers. This often includes the driver’s personal auto policy, the employer’s commercial policy if the driver was working at the time of the crash, and the establishment’s liquor liability coverage.
Stacking these coverages can significantly change the value range of a case, especially when injuries involve long-term disability or permanent impairment. However, insurers do not voluntarily coordinate these layers. Each carrier attempts to isolate its exposure. A properly structured claim ensures all available policies are identified and pursued before settlement discussions begin.
Medical lien resolution also becomes part of the damages strategy, particularly when hospital billing exceeds policy limits.
If you have been hit by an intoxicated driver, learn how to pursue maximum compensation by seeking exemplary damages in Texas when drunk driving causes a wreck.
Why Does This Firm Handle These Cases Differently?
Sonia Rodriguez has litigated dram shop claims in Texas for more than two decades and has presented on the subject at the State Bar of Texas Advanced Personal Injury Law CLE. That is not a general personal injury background with occasional DWI exposure. It is a litigation history specifically built around the legal and evidentiary complexity of alcohol-related injury cases.
Cowen Rodriguez Peacock is a trial firm. When insurers present low offers because they believe the case will settle rather than go to a verdict, that assumption does not hold here. The firm has recovered seven-figure and eight-figure results for seriously injured San Antonio clients. Insurers who negotiate with the firm know the courtroom is a real option.
All cases are handled on contingency. No upfront costs, no fees unless a recovery is made on your behalf.
Call us at (210) 941-1306 for a free consultation or contact us below. No cost to you unless we win.
Frequently Asked Questions: Legal Rights after a Drunk Driving Accident
Does it matter if the drunk driver was never formally charged with DWI?
Yes, but not the way most people expect. A DWI charge or conviction strengthens the civil case by establishing intoxication as a proven fact. Without one, your attorney builds the intoxication element through the blood or breathalyzer result, crash behavior documented in the police report, and witness accounts.
The civil standard is preponderance of the evidence, which is lower than the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt. Cases where no criminal charge was filed still proceed and succeed regularly.
What if I were partially at fault for the crash?
Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule. You can recover as long as your percentage of fault does not exceed 50 percent. Your total recovery is reduced by your share of fault. For example, a finding that you were 20 percent at fault on a $500,000 claim produces a $400,000 recovery.
An insurer that raises comparative fault as a defense is making a strategic argument, not a factual one. An experienced trial firm challenges that argument directly.
Can family members of a person killed by a drunk driver file a claim?
Yes. Texas law provides a wrongful death claim for spouses, children, and parents of a deceased victim under the Texas Wrongful Death Act. A separate survival claim on behalf of the estate may also be available. The two-year limitations period applies from the date of death. If the establishment that served the driver also bears dram shop liability, both claims can be filed against that defendant simultaneously.
What if I were a passenger in the drunk driver's vehicle?
Texas law does not bar passengers from filing civil claims against an intoxicated driver whose conduct caused their injuries, regardless of whether the passenger knew the driver had been drinking. A dram shop claim against the establishment that served the driver may also apply. The relationship between the passenger and the driver does not limit the claim.
How does having a trial firm rather than a settlement firm change the outcome?
Insurers track case outcomes. A firm that consistently settles without filing suit faces different settlement pressure than one with a documented trial history. When the opposing insurer knows that an inadequate offer produces a jury, the negotiating dynamic shifts; that dynamic does not require going to trial in every case. It requires a credible track record of doing so when necessary.
If you have lost a family member to an impaired driver, learn about your legal options and how to seek justice when a loved one died in a car crash caused by a drunk driver.
The Bar That Kept Serving May Owe You More Than the Driver Does
Many of our DWI clients receive a larger recovery from the establishment that overserved the driver than from the driver's own auto policy. If you were injured in a drunk driving crash in San Antonio and you have not had an attorney evaluate the dram shop angle, that evaluation has not happened yet.
Call Cowen Rodriguez Peacock at (210) 941-1306. Free consultations are available around the clock. No upfront costs, no fees unless we recover for you.
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Cowen Law - Texas Office
Address: 6243 I-10 #801, San Antonio, TX 78201
Contact No: (210) 941-1306