Washington Drunk Driving Accident Attorney
A crash caused by an impaired driver usually involves two separate cases running side by side, and only one of them belongs to you. The prosecutor handles the criminal charge against the driver. Your claim for medical bills, lost income, and everything else the crash took from you is a civil matter, and it moves on its own timeline, under its own rules, whatever happens in criminal court. Injury Law Group NW represents people hurt in impaired-driving collisions across King County, the Eastside, and the greater Seattle area, and a Washington drunk driving accident attorney has to keep both tracks in view from the first day.
The criminal case can help you or complicate things, depending on how it resolves and what the driver says along the way. A guilty plea, a blood draw result, or a dashcam clip can strengthen the civil claim considerably. A dismissed charge or an acquittal does not end it, because the civil standard of proof is lower than the criminal one. What matters is knowing early who besides the driver may share responsibility, how much insurance is actually available, and how to keep the insurer from using your own words against you.
Impaired-driving crashes also tend to produce the injuries that take longest to price: spinal damage, brain injuries, and fatalities. Those are the cases where the insurer’s first offer is furthest from the real number, and where preparation for trial changes what the other side is willing to pay.
Why Injury Law Group NW Handles Drunk Driving Crash Claims Differently
Injury Law Group NW is a personal injury firm serving Issaquah, Bellevue, Seattle, and the rest of King County, along with the broader Puget Sound region. We represent drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians, and families who lost someone to another person’s negligence. Our attorneys spent decades defending insurance companies before representing injury victims, and that history shapes how we build a claim: we know which records adjusters look for and how they value a file internally.
Troy Hunter, our Founding Partner, spent 16 years in insurance defense litigation, mostly as a partner at Floyd, Pflueger & Ringer. Attorney David D. Mordekhov spent two decades at Gardner Trabolsi & Mordekhov trying wrongful death, catastrophic injury, and product liability cases before judges and juries. Associate Attorneys Warren Barreiro and Hannah Shergold complete the team. Troy and David are both rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, David has been selected to the Super Lawyers list, and David teaches trial and deposition skills as faculty at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. Our attorneys have argued at every level of the Washington court system, from district court to the Washington Supreme Court, and Troy also serves as a dispute mediator. We are members of the Washington State Association for Justice.
Every claim we take is prepared as though it will be tried, because insurers pay more fairly when they know the lawyer across the table will go to court. Recent results include a mid-six-figure settlement for a family of five whose minivan was forced into the I-5 center barrier by a semi-truck, a mid-six-figure settlement for an elderly woman struck by a transit bus in a downtown Seattle crosswalk, and more than $1 million for parents whose newborn died after a hospital failed to adequately test for Group B Strep, a case that also led the hospital to change its procedures. Past results do not guarantee a future outcome.
Clients tell us we are responsive, communicative, and honest. Our case managers return calls and texts promptly, David is fluent in Russian, and Warren speaks Spanish. If your injuries make travel difficult, we will meet you at home or at the hospital. Consultations are free and confidential, and we work on a contingency fee, so you owe no attorney fee unless we recover money for you.
Who Can Be Held Responsible After an Impaired Driver Hits You
- The Impaired Driver: The driver’s negligence is usually the easiest part to establish, especially with a breath or blood result, field sobriety observations, and officer testimony. The harder question is whether that driver carries enough insurance to cover serious injuries.
- Underinsured Motorist Coverage on Your Own Policy: Washington requires auto liability policies written for vehicles registered or garaged here to include underinsured, hit-and-run, and phantom vehicle coverage, in an amount matching the policy’s liability limits, unless the named insured rejects it in writing. A driver with minimal limits and a catastrophic crash is exactly the situation this coverage exists for. Motorcycle policies work differently: the insurer must offer the coverage, but it is not built in automatically.
- The Driver’s Employer: If the driver was running a work errand, making deliveries, or driving a company vehicle, the employer may be liable, and its commercial policy may be far larger than a personal one.
- Rideshare Vehicles: For a transportation network company vehicle, the required primary policy must carry underinsured motorist coverage of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident from the moment a passenger enters until the passenger exits. That matters if the impaired driver was a rideshare driver, or if you were a passenger in a rideshare hit by one.
- Commercial Carriers and Truck Operators: Semi-truck crashes on I-5, I-90, and I-405 bring federal safety rules into play, and an impaired commercial driver raises questions about the carrier’s hiring, supervision, and testing practices.
- Government Entities: If poor road design, missing signage, or a negligent public employee contributed to the crash, a claim against a city, county, or the state carries special notice requirements covered below.
- Injured Workers with Third-Party Claims: If you were hurt on the job, say as a delivery driver or roadside worker, workers’ compensation does not stop you from pursuing the impaired driver. The Department of Labor & Industries or a self-insurer may assert an interest in what you recover, so that has to be handled carefully from the start.
What to Do in the Days After an Impaired-Driver Crash
Get medical care first, even if you feel mostly fine. Adrenaline hides injuries, and brain injuries and soft-tissue damage often announce themselves days later. Tell every provider that the crash is the cause of your symptoms so the connection appears in the chart from the start. Gaps in treatment are one of the first things an adjuster points to when arguing your injuries were minor.
If you can, document the scene: photos of vehicle positions, damage, road conditions, and anything that suggests impairment, plus names and numbers of witnesses. Make sure a police report is taken. Law enforcement in Issaquah, Bellevue, Seattle, Kent, and other King County communities will typically document suspected impairment, and that report, along with any blood or breath results, becomes central evidence. Ask for the report number before you leave.
Be careful with the insurance companies. You are generally not required to give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver’s insurer, and doing so before you understand your injuries can hurt you. Adjusters are trained to ask questions that shrink your injuries or shift blame. Your own insurer is a different matter, since your policy may require cooperation, and you may need to open a claim for personal injury protection or underinsured motorist coverage. Talk to a lawyer before giving any statement about fault or injuries.
Watch the deadlines. Most Washington injury claims must be filed within three years, and a wrongful death claim runs three years from the date of death. A lawsuit is treated as started by either filing or serving the defendant, provided the other step follows within 90 days. If a government body might share fault, you generally must first present a formal claim and wait 60 days before suing; the limitations period is tolled during that wait, and filing within five court days after it ends is treated as timely. State claims go through the Office of Risk Management on the standard tort claim form, while claims against local governments go to the entity’s designated claims agent, whose identity is a public record kept with the county auditor.
Expect most of these cases to be filed in King County Superior Court, which sits in Seattle and at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. Smaller claims can go to King County District Court, whose civil jurisdiction is capped by statute and adjusted periodically. Eastside cases often route through the district court’s Redmond filing area, which covers communities like Bellevue, Issaquah, Kirkland, Sammamish, and Redmond. Because injuries from impaired-driving crashes are often serious, most of our cases belong in superior court.
How the Criminal Case Affects Your Civil Claim
You are not a party to the DUI prosecution, but the outcome touches your claim. A conviction or guilty plea can be powerful evidence of negligence in the civil case. Statements the driver made to officers, test results, and the arrest report may also be usable. If the criminal case is dismissed or ends in a reduced charge, your claim remains alive, since the civil standard asks whether it is more likely than not that the driver was negligent, not whether guilt was proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The prosecutor may seek restitution for your out-of-pocket losses as part of a sentence. That can help, but it is rarely a full measure of what you are owed, and it does not cover pain and suffering or long-term losses. Do not treat restitution as a substitute for the civil claim, and do not sign anything with the driver or an insurer that releases your rights without having a lawyer review it.
Alcohol involvement can also change how the case is argued. Jurors react strongly to impaired driving, which gives the case settlement leverage, but insurers often respond by contesting causation or the extent of your injuries instead of fault. That is why medical documentation and, in serious cases, vocational and life-care evidence matter so much.
Partial Fault, Damages, and Wrongful Death
Washington follows pure comparative fault. Any fault assigned to you reduces your recovery in proportion, but it does not bar the claim, and there is no 50 or 51 percent cutoff. Insurers sometimes try to assign a share of blame to the injured person, perhaps for speed, lane position, or a missing seatbelt, even when the other driver was plainly impaired. Pushing back on those allegations is part of the job.
Damages can include past and future medical expenses, lost wages and diminished earning capacity, and pain and suffering. When an impaired driver causes a death, the personal representative of the estate brings the wrongful death action. It is for the benefit of the spouse or state registered domestic partner and children, including stepchildren, and if there are none, the parents or siblings. The estate can also recover economic losses, and where qualifying beneficiaries exist, the decedent’s own pain, suffering, and distress before death.
Questions About Drunk Driving Accident Claims in Washington
How long do I have to file a lawsuit after a drunk driving crash?
In most cases you have three years from the date of the crash under RCW 4.16.080. For a wrongful death, the three years run from the date of death. Claims involving a government entity require a prior notice claim and a 60-day waiting period, so those cases need attention sooner.
Do I need to wait for the criminal case to end before filing my claim?
No. The civil claim does not depend on the criminal case. Sometimes it makes sense to let the criminal case develop so evidence becomes available, but your deadline keeps running regardless, so waiting should be a deliberate decision.
What if the drunk driver is convicted? Does that guarantee I win?
A conviction is strong evidence of negligence, but you still have to prove your injuries, their cause, and the value of your damages. Insurers frequently concede fault in these cases and fight over what the injuries are worth.
What if the driver was acquitted or the charges were dropped?
Your civil claim can still go forward. The criminal burden is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, while a civil case only requires showing negligence is more likely than not.
Who pays my medical bills while the claim is pending?
Personal injury protection coverage on your own auto policy can pay medical expenses and some lost wages regardless of fault, unless you rejected it in writing. Health insurance may also cover treatment. We work to coordinate these sources so bills are handled while the claim develops.
The drunk driver had little or no insurance. What are my options?
Check your own policy for underinsured motorist coverage, which Washington requires to be included unless rejected in writing. An underinsured vehicle is one with no liability coverage or limits lower than your damages. You may also have claims against an employer, a vehicle owner, or another responsible party.
Can a bar or restaurant be held responsible for serving the driver?
Sometimes. Washington law can reach a business that overserved someone who was visibly intoxicated, but these claims depend on the evidence, such as receipts, witness accounts, and surveillance footage. Preserving that evidence quickly matters, and an attorney can tell you whether the facts support it.
I was hit while working. Can I still sue the drunk driver?
Yes. If a third party outside your employer is liable, you can pursue damages from that person in addition to workers’ compensation benefits. The Department of Labor & Industries or a self-insurer must be notified of the lawsuit and may assert an interest in your recovery.
Will the driver’s insurance company pay punitive damages?
Washington generally does not allow punitive damages in these cases, so the focus is on compensating your actual losses, including economic and noneconomic harm. That makes thorough documentation of your injuries and their long-term effects especially important.
Should I talk to the driver’s insurance adjuster?
You can report the crash, but you are generally not required to give a recorded statement, and it is wise to speak with a lawyer first. Our attorneys spent years on the defense side and know how those statements are used to reduce claims.
How much is my case worth?
It depends on your injuries, medical costs, lost income, the effect on your daily life, and the insurance available. We evaluate cases the way insurers do, so we can tell you what a fair recovery looks like and push for it.
Serving Drunk Driving Crash Victims Across King County and Puget Sound
Our work for injured clients starts in King County and extends across the Eastside and greater Seattle area. We represent people hurt in impaired-driving collisions in Seattle, Bellevue, Issaquah, Sammamish, Redmond, Kirkland, Kent, and Renton, and throughout the wider Puget Sound region. The roads where these crashes happen run through all of those communities, including I-90, I-405, I-5, and the surface streets that connect them.
Whether the crash happened on the Eastside, in downtown Seattle, or in the cities south of it, we handle claims for drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists, and pedestrians, as well as families dealing with the loss of a loved one. If travel is hard because of your injuries, we will come to you.
Talk With a Washington Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Today
If an impaired driver injured you or took someone you love, a Washington drunk driving accident lawyer can sort out the insurance, the evidence, and the deadlines while you focus on recovery. Call or text Injury Law Group NW to schedule a free, confidential consultation. We will listen to what happened, explain your options, and pursue the compensation you need. We give hope. We get results.
