A drunk driving crash on US 41 or the Lloyd Expressway can leave you dealing with two cases at once: the state’s criminal prosecution and your separate injury claim. An Evansville drunk driving accident lawyer can use evidence from the operating while intoxicated (OWI) investigation to prove what happened and document your losses.
An arrest or conviction doesn’t determine what your injuries are worth. The insurer can still dispute your treatment, blame you, or push for an early settlement before the full impact of the crash is clear.
Vaughan & Vaughan can obtain the evidence from the impaired-driving case and deal with the insurance company on your behalf. Call (765) 742-0056 or use our online form for a free consultation.
Why Evansville Chooses Vaughan & Vaughan for Drunk Driving Claims
Vaughan & Vaughan has been standing up for injured Hoosiers since 1913. For four generations, our family has helped injured clients recover compensation for their medical bills, lost wages, and other losses.
More Time Spent on Each Case
Vaughan & Vaughan’s attorneys carry significantly smaller caseloads than high-volume injury firms. That gives the legal team more time to review OWI evidence, medical records, insurance arguments, and the long-term effects of a serious injury instead of rushing toward the first available settlement.
One Team From Start to Finish
You’re assigned a dedicated attorney and team when the case begins, and they stay with you through resolution. You don’t have to repeat your story every time your file changes hands or wonder who’s responsible for the next step.
In-House Investigation
Our firm has a full-time former police lieutenant who can help evaluate accident evidence and a full-time Licensed Practical Nurse who reviews medical issues. That gives the legal team in-house help with two of the biggest disputes in a drunk driving case: how the wreck happened and what your injuries will mean going forward.
Experienced Leadership
Vaughan & Vaughan is owned by a Board Certified Trial Lawyer and Professor of Trial Advocacy who has served as President of the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association. He has also been named Indiana Trial Lawyer of the Year.
Call Vaughan & Vaughan at (765) 742-0056 or contact us online to discuss your Evansville drunk driving claim.
Is Your Injury Claim Separate From the Driver’s Criminal OWI Case?
Your injury claim is separate from the driver’s criminal operating while intoxicated case because the two proceedings serve different purposes. Indiana prosecutes the OWI charge, while you pursue a civil claim for the losses caused by the crash.
The criminal investigation can still give your lawyer valuable evidence. Chemical test results, officer observations, body-camera footage, witness statements, field sobriety testing, and other records can help establish what the driver did before the collision.
An OWI conviction can also support your civil case, but it doesn’t automatically establish the value of your injuries. Your lawyer still has to connect the crash to your medical treatment, lost income, pain, and other damages.
That can include records from Deaconess Midtown Hospital or Ascension St. Vincent Evansville when a serious collision leads to emergency treatment, surgery, or continued care. The criminal case helps show what the driver did. Your injury case has to show what that conduct cost you.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for a Drunk Driving Crash in Evansville?
The impaired driver is usually the primary responsible party, but an Evansville drunk driving crash can lead to claims involving others as well. A lawyer can investigate where the driver obtained alcohol, what insurance coverage exists, and whether another party contributed to the collision.
Potentially responsible parties or sources of coverage can include:
- The Impaired Driver: Your lawyer can pursue the driver who caused the wreck and the liability insurance that applies to the vehicle.
- A Bar or Restaurant: Indiana’s Dram Shop Act can create liability in qualifying cases involving alcohol service to an intoxicated person who later causes harm.
- A Person Who Furnished Alcohol: Indiana law can create liability in certain situations involving alcohol provided to another person, including some cases involving minors.
- Another Negligent Driver: A drunk driver doesn’t prevent another motorist from sharing fault if that person also contributed to the crash.
- Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist Coverage: If the at-fault driver lacks enough insurance, your attorney can review other policies for additional coverage that could apply.
An Evansville drunk driving accident attorney can investigate all available sources instead of assuming the impaired driver’s personal auto policy is the only place to recover.
How Does Indiana’s Comparative Fault Law Affect Your Claim?
Indiana’s comparative fault law can reduce your recovery if the insurer proves that you contributed to the crash. Under the Indiana Comparative Fault Act, your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault, and recovery is barred if you’re found more than 50% responsible.
That gives the drunk driver’s insurer a reason to scrutinize your conduct even when the insured was intoxicated. The adjuster can argue that you were speeding, distracted, following too closely, or could have avoided the collision.
A drunk driving accident lawyer in Evansville can challenge those arguments with evidence such as:
- Crash and OWI Records: Police reports, chemical test results, officer observations, and criminal-case records can document the impaired driver’s conduct.
- Video Evidence: Dashcams, traffic cameras, business surveillance, and body-camera footage can show vehicle movements and conditions before the impact.
- Witness Accounts: Independent witnesses can help establish who entered an intersection, crossed a lane, ran a light, or caused another dangerous event.
- Vehicle and Scene Evidence: Damage patterns, debris, measurements, and roadway evidence can help reconstruct the collision.
- Expert Analysis: In disputed or high-speed crashes, reconstruction evidence can test an insurer’s attempt to assign blame to you.
Pursuing Compensation With an Evansville Crash With a Drunk Driver
An Evansville drunk driving claim can seek compensation for both the financial losses you can calculate and the personal effects that don’t come with a receipt. Your lawyer can build the damages portion of the case around how the injuries changed your treatment, work, independence, and daily life.
Depending on the facts, those losses can include:
- Emergency and Hospital Care: Your claim includes hospitalization, diagnostic testing, surgery, and other crash-related treatment.
- Continued Treatment: Your lawyer includes specialist visits, physical therapy, injections, additional procedures, and other expected care.
- Lost Pay and Employment Benefits: This compensation covers your missed wages, overtime, bonuses, used leave, and other income you lost because of the injury.
- Reduced Earning Ability: A permanent limitation can reduce the type of work you can do, the hours you can work, or your ability to advance in your career.
- Pain and Suffering: Your claim can reflect physical pain and the ways the injury disrupts sleep, mobility, recreation, family activities, and independence.
- Permanent Injury or Disability: Your lawyer can document lasting neurological, orthopedic, mobility, scarring, or other permanent effects.
- Punitive Damages: Indiana law allows punitive damages in qualifying cases, subject to the requirements and limits in Ind. Code § 34-51-3.
Why Do You Need a Lawyer if the Drunk Driver Is Already Being Prosecuted?
The criminal case against the drunk driver doesn’t build or pay your injury claim. Prosecutors focus on whether the driver committed operating while intoxicated, while your Evansville drunk driving accident lawyer focuses on proving what the crash cost you and pursuing the insurance coverage that can pay for those losses.
The OWI case can still give your attorney useful evidence, including chemical test results, officer reports, video, and witness statements. Your lawyer can use that material alongside crash evidence, medical records, and employment records to prove both fault and damages.
You also need someone to protect your interests while the criminal case proceeds on its own schedule. The prosecutor doesn’t negotiate your injury settlement, challenge an insurer that blames you, investigate additional coverage, or calculate future medical and income losses for you.
If the insurer refuses to make a reasonable offer, Vaughan & Vaughan can prepare the civil case for litigation in Vanderburgh County. The criminal prosecution can strengthen parts of your claim, but it doesn’t replace the work required to recover compensation for your injuries.
Common Mistakes To Avoid After an Evansville Drunk Driving Crash
The biggest mistakes after a drunk driving crash can weaken your claim even when the other driver was clearly impaired. Insurers still look for gaps in treatment, inconsistent statements, and early decisions they can use to reduce what they pay.
Avoid these common mistakes:
- Settling Before You Know the Full Injury: An early offer can arrive before you know whether you’ll need surgery, therapy, or long-term care. Once you settle, you usually can’t go back for more.
- Giving a Recorded Statement: Adjusters can use your own words to argue that you share fault or that your injuries are less serious than claimed.
- Skipping/Delaying Medical Treatment: Gaps in care can give the insurer room to argue that the crash didn’t cause your symptoms or that you recovered sooner than you did.
- Assuming the OWI Case Proves Everything: A criminal charge or conviction can help establish the driver’s conduct, but you still need medical and financial evidence to prove your losses.
- Posting Online: Photos, comments, or updates can be taken out of context and used to challenge your injuries or daily limitations.
- Ignoring Other Sources of Coverage: The impaired driver may not be the only party or policy involved. A lawyer can check for dram shop liability, additional insurance, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.
The Evansville drunk driving accident lawyers at Vaughan & Vaughan can help you avoid those mistakes while building the evidence needed to support your claim.
FAQ for Evansville Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer
What Happens if the Drunk Driver Who Hit Me Had No Insurance?
You could still have coverage available even when the impaired driver was uninsured. Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) coverage on an applicable policy can become important when the at-fault driver has no insurance or inadequate limits.
A lawyer can review the policies tied to the crash and determine which coverage can be pursued.
Can a Bar Be Held Responsible for Serving the Drunk Driver?
A bar or restaurant can face liability when the facts satisfy Indiana’s Dram Shop Act. Those cases require evidence about the driver’s intoxication and what the establishment knew when alcohol was furnished.
An attorney can investigate receipts, witnesses, surveillance, and other records from the hours before the collision.
Can I Still Get Compensation if the Police Report Says I’m Partly at Fault?
Indiana law can still allow you to recover compensation when you share some fault, provided your share doesn’t exceed the statutory limit. The police report is evidence, but it doesn’t make the final legal determination of civil fault.
A drunk driving accident lawyer in Evansville can challenge the report’s conclusions with video, witnesses, vehicle evidence, and reconstruction when appropriate.
Why Do I Need an Evansville Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer if the Driver Was Charged?
The criminal charge doesn’t handle your medical bills, lost income, or other civil damages. Indiana prosecutes the OWI case, while you have to pursue your own injury claim against the responsible parties and insurers.
Your Evansville drunk driving accident attorney can use evidence from the criminal case while separately building the proof needed for your civil claim.
Does the Driver’s OWI Conviction Guarantee I Win My Civil Case?
An OWI conviction doesn’t automatically establish every part of your civil injury claim. You still have to prove that the driver’s conduct caused your injuries and document the damages you’re seeking.
Your lawyer can use the conviction as part of the liability evidence while separately building the medical and financial proof.
Let’s Talk About Your Options
The criminal case can produce valuable evidence against an impaired driver, but that evidence will not build your injury claim by itself. Vaughan & Vaughan can obtain the OWI records and challenge attempts to shift fault.
Call (765) 742-0056 or use our online form for a free consultation with our Evansville team.
