When a drunk driver injures someone, many folks assume the impairment will simply speak for itself. In a civil case it does not. The impairment has to be proven, and the proof lives in the same evidence a DUI prosecution runs on, the breath test and the machine’s records, the blood draw and its chain of custody, and the field sobriety tests and the body camera video. Reading that evidence is a specific skill, and it is the one I spent years developing on the defense side of impairment cases before I brought it to representing the people those drivers hurt.
Two cases, one body of evidence
A drunk driving crash sets two cases in motion at once, the State’s criminal case against the driver and your own civil case for the harm you suffered, and they are independent. What ties them together is the evidence. The breath and blood results, the officer’s observations, and the tests gathered for the criminal case are often the strongest proof of impairment available in your civil case. That is why a conviction or a guilty plea can become powerful evidence for you, and why your case does not have to wait on, or depend on, the criminal outcome.
The breath machine is not magic, and neither is the number
A breath test result looks like a simple number, but that number rests on a machine that has to be maintained, calibrated, and operated correctly, on records that document all of it, and on procedures that have to be followed, including an observation period before the test. Knowing where those records are strong, and where they are weak, is what separates using the impairment proof to fix the driver’s fault from letting an insurer wave it away. The same is true of a blood result, where the draw, the storage, and the chain of custody all matter, and of the field sobriety tests, which are only meaningful when they were administered the way the national standards require.
Why this matters to the value of your case
Impairment does more than establish fault. In Florida, a crash caused by an impaired driver can support punitive damages, and the usual cap on those damages is lifted when the driver was impaired or at a blood or breath alcohol level of 0.08 or higher. So the impairment evidence is not just about proving who was at fault. It can open a category of accountability, and value, that an ordinary crash cannot reach. That is a strong reason to treat the impairment proof with the same care a good defense lawyer would, and to make sure none of it slips away.
The criminal file is an asset, if someone reads it
The criminal investigation generates a file full of evidence your civil case can use, the reports, the machine records, the video, and the analyst’s work. Most injury lawyers are not trained to read the forensic parts of that file, so its full value goes untapped. Turning the criminal file into an advantage in your civil case, rather than a delay, is exactly the crossover I bring to these cases, and it is uncommon.
I came up taking apart the State’s impairment evidence for the accused, and that is precisely the knowledge I now use to prove a drunk driver’s fault and to protect the value of a victim’s case. I read the breath and blood records the way I always have, I hold the proof to the standards it has to meet, and I represent injured people and grieving families, not insurers. If a drunk or drugged driver hurt you or your family anywhere across the Gulf Coast, the impairment evidence deserves an eye that knows exactly what to look for. Learn how I handle Florida drunk driving victim claims.
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About the author
Rory Safir is a Florida injury and criminal defense lawyer and one of a handful of ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientists in the state. He builds injury cases the way he builds a defense, from the evidence up: the crash reconstruction, the records, and the cross-examination of the insurer’s experts.