Galveston Drunk Driving Accident Attorney

Let Attorney Michael Grossman Help if You've Been Injured due to the Actions of a Drunken Driver

Even if drunk driving accidents have gradually declined the past few years, there's still a good chance that one day you will be hit by an intoxicated driver. If that has happened to you or a member of your family you deserve to be compensated for your injuries, pain, suffering, lost wages if the accident disables you, or has taken the life of a beloved family member, in addition to reimbursement for damage to your vehicle and any of its contents.

In addition to needing financial compensation and other legal damages arising from the wreck, you also want to make this an experience so memorable for the drunk driver that they'll never even consider driving drunk again. But what about the bar or restaurant that negligently over-served this customer who then got behind the wheel and caused this horrible DUI wreck?

The Grossman Law Office Galveston drunk driving accident attorneys are very adept at bringing negligent bars, restaurants, and drunk drivers to justice through Texas drunk driving accident lawsuits. We want to help you understand the complexities involved in pursuing, and winning, a drunk driving injury claim or lawsuit. They are much more technical than normal automobile accident cases because many DUI accidents are caused by a combination of the driver's gross, or willful, negligence and the people who also made the driver intoxicated. The bar or restaurant must also be held liable for their customer's intoxication that led to the driver hitting your vehicle.

In the past few years, state laws have been rewritten. They are much more favorable for the victims of DUI accidents by the fact that they hold these bars and restaurants much more responsible for such auto wrecks. Until a few years ago, liability belonged solely to that driver And though these new laws are a bit more complicated than in the past, they now place more of the responsibility for compensating drunk driving accident victims on the bar or restaurant that over-served liquor to the intoxicated person who then went out, drove drunk, and caused your terrible accident.

New Laws Now Hold Bars and Restaurants to Higher Account for DUI Wrecks in Texas

The Texas Dram Shop Act, rewritten about ten years ago, now holds those who serve alcoholic beverages for a living to be more liable for the accidents caused by their intoxicated patrons. It created a clear series of guidelines by which these food and beverage businesses can deny service of alcohol to people who are apparently intoxicated. Recent research has shown that well over 95 percent of all drunk driving accidents in Texas happen when a bar or restaurant continues to serve visibly intoxicated customers, who then become drunk drivers and cause an accident that often leads to injuries and even deaths.

Before they were rewritten, the original dram shop laws posed virtually no deterrent to these bars and restaurants, and the liquor flowed like water. And in the "old days" society didn't view drunks as harshly as does now. But the aggressive actions of organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and many others' turned the tide of public awareness as to those who are responsible for creating drunk drivers. And the Dram Shop Act was amended to make businesses that serve liquor much more liable both criminally and in civil cases. There are two primary features to these strengthened Dram Shop Laws that now apply.

The first is to make bars and restaurants more responsible for their customers' level of intoxication. This stricter set of rules now holds bartenders and waitresses legally liable for the amount of alcohol their customers consume. Food and beverage employees, from managers all the way down to busboys (and some kitchen staff) are now required to receive formal instruction, be educated in the ways of recognizing customers who are drunk, and the diplomatic ways in which they are to cease serving them alcohol. Since this new legal liability affects their livelihood, many restaurant and bar employees have a new ability to recognize intoxicated customers. And this is helping make Texas roads generally safer than they were before the new dram shop laws were passed by the Legislature.

But the bars and restaurants that serve alcohol can still sometimes work at cross-purposes with Texas Dram Shop Laws. This is because they make a large share of their profits from the alcohol that they serve to their customers. So even if DUI-related accidents have seen a gradual decline the past few years, too many still occur. And some bars and alcohol-serving restaurants find it difficult to do follow the law when that proper action might seem to work against their financial interests. So in addition to the heightened awareness in recognizing drunk patrons, the second primary objective of the new dram shop laws is to clearly make these establishments directly liable for the drunk drivers they produce. This is so important in assuring that that the victims of a drunk driving accident receive fair and adequate damage compensation for the recklessness of not only the drunk drivers, but the people who are just as responsible for the driver's intoxicated condition.

Before the new Texas Dram Shop Act, the victims of drunk driving accidents had no legal recourse against anyone but the driver. Today however, bars and other alcohol-serving establishments are held just as liable for damages caused by the drunk driver they create. In some cases, even the passengers who are in the car of a drunk driver have been able to successfully sue the establishments responsible for injuries arising from a DUI-related accident. But such success is not always assured unless there is an experienced drunk driver accident lawyer to represent them.

Why a Bar or Restaurant is Now Liable for DUI-Related Accident Damages

Food and beverage companies must be granted a license to serve alcohol by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). They must take a legally oath that they will serve alcohol responsibly and accept higher liability standards for their customers' safety and welfare when it comes to intoxication. If they are found to have broken these laws, penalties can include heavy fines, loss of their liquor license and, if appropriate, criminal prosecution. The new dram shop laws also require them to train their employees how to recognize a patron who is clearly intoxicated and how to diplomatically cut them off. These TABC administered alcohol education courses are something like the mandated defensive driving courses you must take to remove a traffic ticket from your driving record, or to get a discount on your auto insurance.

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But they know they are ultimately responsible for making sure their customers are not intoxicated. Often, detecting the legal level of intoxication in a customer is not that easy since every person reacts to alcohol differently. There is also the possibility that a number of factors not immediately known to the bar or restaurant employee can make it more difficult to understand just how drunk a customer might be. Short of bars and restaurants having a breathalyzer at the front door there is no universal way for the food and beverage owners, managers and workers to know for certain that a customer is legally drunk. This is why they all must be very observant of customers' alcohol consumption, and use the good judgment we all assume they have been taught.

But that doesn't always happen. So if they break the law, dram shop laws now hold food and beverage businesses directly liable for paying legal damages in a DUI-related auto wreck. If necessary, bars must call police to prevent intoxicated patrons from leaving. Some even offer to call cabs for their customers. And many have "designated driver" campaigns. But until the day when every bar owner calls a cab, or finds a designated driver for every drunk customer, accidents involving drunk drivers will continue. And when this happens, the bar and the customer are viewed in the eyes of the law as equally negligent. Each is responsible for contributing to the intoxicated patron's condition. And each can be held legally liable for any damages, injuries or deaths arising from their "conspiracy" that caused this intoxicated customer's tragic, but foreseeable, actions.

The Odds of Collecting Damages Increase With an Experienced Galveston Drunk Driving Accident Attorney

You might think that the process of receiving, fair compensation when a drunk driver hits you is relatively straightforward. Some of you might even think you can handle this on your own. But without retaining a competent Galveston drunken driver accident lawyer, you'll quickly learn that lawsuits against drunk drivers and the establishments who are responsible for their intoxication are anything but simple. And you'll sadly discover (too-late) that you have very little chance of a successful settlement or civil lawsuit.

Someone's insurance company will certainly question your claim, even if you have the law on your side. And businesses that serve alcohol, since they must also be made to pay, will work Just as hard to deny your legal claim. So in addition to your injuries, or dealing with a loved one's death at the hands of a drunk driver, are you certain you want to deal with insurance companies, their adjusters, lawyers and investigators who all want to keep their money? Are you really certain you want to tiptoe around all of these people who could care less about your pain, suffering, medical bills, lost wages?

But on the other hand, a knowledgeable, skilled drunk driving accident attorney, like those at Grossman Law Office has helped many of Galveston and Gulf Coast neighbors overcome these challenged and more: obstacles everyone must deal with as they wind their way through the complicated, yet necessary, legal process in order to win fair drunk driving accident damage compensation, and turn back the insurance companies, their adjusters and attorneys whose job is to deny your rightful civil damage cases.

Your Experienced Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Can Negotiate a Fair Settlement

The best outcome in any civil lawsuit is a fair settlement and avoid going to court. This is because you have more control over the outcome before the trial, which can be very expensive. And sometimes you just can count on a jury to do the right thing. Juries are made-up mostly of people who weren't able to avoid jury duty and want to be released from that duty as soon as possible. And though favorable settlements are not always easy to reach, having an experienced Galveston drunk driving accident attorney significantly increases your chances of a positive outcome, often without having to walk into a courtroom.

This is why you should retain capable and aggressive legal counsel as soon as possible who can quickly begin the investigative process to back up your charges. This is probably the most vital portion in the life of your case. Witnesses to the circumstances and events leading up to the drunk driver causing your accident must be found, and interviewed, quickly. The more time that passes before you hire a lawyer, the harder it is to track these people down.

Other investigations and assessments of liability must be conducted, chronicled and documented. An investigation of which the liable parties have the means to pay your claim once they have been found guilty is also necessary. Insurance companies must be contacted by your attorney to let them know you have a lawyer and are seriously pursing a damage claim. Law enforcement officials and others who are able to shed light on your case must also be found and interviewed. Your opponents begin working against you almost from the moment the accident occurs. Shouldn't someone be doing the same thing for you?

The Many Legal Skills Your Attorney Uses to Win Your DUI Accident Damages

Grossman Law Office has demonstrated for over the past 20 years why it is successful in winning fair compensation against those who drink, then cause auto accidents, as well as those on the defendant's side who would deny you that fair compensation. This success is the product of many experience-based skills, such as:

• Your skillful Galveston drunken driver accident lawyer must be able to counter aggressive and well-funded defense lawyers who cloud the issues of liability for your injuries and other legal damages.
• Your attorney must clearly prove the bar or restaurant disregarded the law and continued to serve the intoxicated customer who caused your accident.
• Your legal counsel must also stop the heavy-handed behavior of insurance companies who fund this legal battle against you; because in the end, they're the ones who end up writing the check for your settlement.
  
• Your lawyer must be skilled at educating a jury in all the nuances of drunk driving cases and create sympathy in the minds of jurors that you have been wronged.
• And ultimately, your drunk driving accident attorney must craft your case so well that your opponents see the futility of fighting you in court and agree to the reasonable settlement you were seeking all along,

By successfully countering every argument of all your opponents and by building the strongest provable case that convinces a jury that your case is just, a Galveston drunk driving accident attorney with Grossman Law Office is well-positioned to win the highest reasonable amount to compensate you for your drunk driver damage claims or lawsuits.

Is Your Drunk Driver Accident Attorney Able to Counter Aggressive Defense Lawyers?

Grossman Law Office only represents victims in drunk driving accident cases. We've always believed that those who serve alcohol are just as responsible for drunk driving accidents as the intoxicated driver. Since the new dram shop laws now hold bars and restaurants liable for these criminal offenses, some attorneys now exclusively defend establishments that serve liquor from their legal responsibilities in causing a drunk driving accident, because those businesses have the money to pay them. We also understand why the dram shop laws have led to fewer attorneys who are willing to accept DUI wrongful death accident cases on behalf of injured plaintiffs. But it is very difficult for many personal injury firms, and almost impossible for those who do not specialize in wrongful death, to succeed against experienced lawyers who represent bar and restaurant dram shop law defendants. And it's just as difficult for inexperienced lawyers to "do the deal" with an insurance company to get what you deserve without having to live through the ordeal of a civil trial.

The drunk driving accident attorneys at Grossman Law Office have faced almost every insurance company and their defense firms in the country. We have successfully resolved hundreds of drunk driving accident cases against these highly competent firms on behalf of our plaintiff-clients. Our experience in scrupulously building the strongest dram shop liability case possible is well known. And we fight for our clients' right to receive the compensation they deserve for their injuries and damages. This means not allowing our clients to become victims of aggressive insurance companies and their defense lawyers, after being victimized by a drunk driver, and the bar or restaurant they created.

Dram Shop Law Violators Try to Avoid Their Liability for the DUI Wreck That Injured You

The burden is always on you, the plaintiff, and your attorney to prove your damage claims in court against both the drunk driver and the bar or restaurant. And though we have aggressive dram shop laws in Texas, they don't automatically make the defendant liable. Nor is it reasonable for any plaintiff to believe that just because they ask for damages, they are automatically entitled to them. Everything you charge, you must prove, beyond a shadow of doubt. Part of the defense strategy might include assaulting your character, or maybe even questioning if you were also intoxicated, but eluded detection. So be prepared to not only clearly prove your case, but plainly refute any charges leveled at you by the defense in order for the bar that served the intoxicated driver to avoid a guilty verdict.

Though there is some truth that the drunk driver is mostly responsible for the accident, once it is proven that bar over-served the driver, the owners, managers and employees are just as financially liable as the driver. And they are equally obliged to pay their share of the damages owed you for that negligence that caused the drunk driving accident which injured you. Our Galveston drunken driver accident lawyers make certain a jury clearly understands all of your evidence, why it proves your case and reinforces your legal right to receive the full amount of compensation that is due you by law.

Underhanded Insurance Company Tactics Can Threaten Your Case Without an Experienced DUI Accident Injury Attorney

The insurance companies pull the lawyers' strings. They are either on-staff or on permanent retainer. And they're good. Both the lawyers and their insurance companies know every trick in the book to avoid paying accident victims' legal damage claims. And when they are forced to pay, they fight just as hard to make that compensation check as small as possible.

A great advantage for insurance companies in a drunk driving lawsuit is the fact that juries cannot be directly told an insurance policy, or the carrier that underwrites it, is involved in this lawsuit, even if it's not hard for the jury to figure out. This allows insurance companies, sometimes in concert with their attorneys, to use misleading, and sometimes deceitful tactics to deny a legal claim in civil court. So the jury must figure it out for themselves because no one can tell them that an insurance company is the one whose financial interests are as much at stake as the food and beverage operation and the drunk driver.

And to further complicate your case, these recent more restrictive dram shop laws have emboldened insurance companies even further. They now encourage cases be to be taken to trial that only a few years ago, might not have even seen the inside of a courthouse because more money, and liability, is at stake.

So here is the real story of the "insurance company factor" in your drunk driving civil liability case. Only the most stout-hearted drunk driving accident attorneys are willing to stand-up to these bullies. Don't you need an experienced Galveston drunk driving accident attorney with a proven track record to let them know you are serious about fighting for your legal rights? For there's one thing about bullies we all know to be true. If they know you're willing to fight them, you suddenly learn that they really don't want to fight you.

A Persuasive Case and "Reading" the Jury are the Keys of Winning Your Case in Court

But once you get into court, it comes down to what the jury thinks of your evidence. And your drunk driving personal injury lawsuit means only as much as the settlement a jury can award you because of the quality of your evidence. It's not very difficult for a lawyer to explain to a jury the numerous technicalities of liability in a drunk driving accident. And it's not all that hard to prove damages or to show, in the eyes of the law, that you and your attorney have satisfied the burden of proof for the jury to see for that you deserve compensation.

What juries have a hard time with in drunk driving liability cases is a clear understanding of the shared liability for the accident, relative to the Dram Shop Act, and not think this double whammy of both criminal and civil liability upon the bar or restaurant seem heavy-handed, almost draconian. If a bar or restaurant has already paid a very stiff fine, lost its liquor license and even facing criminal charges for serving the drunk driver, some can see this is "piling on." So in the final analysis, your experienced Galveston drunken driver accident lawyer must make the jury feel your pain more than they feel the defendant's.

Juries must be made to understand that bars can often act at cross-purposes to public safety and that they must take responsibility for their actions. They also must appreciate just how tragic a price, both monetarily and physically, drunk driving accident victims must live with because of the actions of those bar or restaurant employees who placed that drunk driver behind the wheel. When it comes to DUI accident liability, the one who "loads the gun" is just as responsible as "the one who fires it." And all of this must be done to a group of 12 people who sit in judgment of you and the defendants, simply because they weren't able to avoid jury duty.

The only way to defend your rights as a DUI accident victim is with an experienced drunk driver accident lawyer who speaks in a manner that appeals to a jury and makes them clearly understand that you must receive compensation for your damages in order to get back on your feet. Those who have been injured by a drunk driver suffer great financial, emotional, and physical injury. Bringing a drunk driver to criminal justice is one thing. But until the damage drunk drivers cause to their victims is repaired and their lives return to normal, justice is still not done.

Let Grossman Law Office Be Your Legal Partner in Wining Fair Damages for You

If you have a relative or friend who is a lawyer, even though he or she might be looking out for your best interests and is inspired to fight hard for your family's legal rights, you might want to reconsider retaining anyone who might have a difficult time emotionally disassociating him or herself from your DUI accident injury case. Personal injury law is quite intense and at times, very contentious. An attorney who is pragmatic, focuses solely on the facts of a case and is cool under fire best serves his clients. Too much empathy can cloud a lawyer's thinking and create mistakes at the most crucial time.

Did You Know?

Our Houston Texas attorneys have won hundreds of drunk driver accident cases. Call us today to discuss your case. 1-855-392-0000

What happens if that friend or relative attorney doesn't win the case, or accepts a less-than-fair settlement because he knows how badly you need the money now, and leaves even more on the table than an experienced attorney would not? How will you feel about your friend of relative then? Here's a word to the wise. Family members or friends don't belong in your legal business.

Drunk driving accident lawyer Michael Grossman of Grossman Law Office has helped drunk driving accident victims win damage compensation for over 20 years. His professional lawyers and staff are highly-qualified and experienced at deftly overcoming the many challenges and obstacles you face when filing a dram shop liability lawsuit and demonstrated an ability to investigate all the facts surrounding the accident.

We bring very strong lawsuits against drunk drivers. Most of the time in a drunk driving case, proving that the driver is clearly at fault is not difficult. But we are also dedicated to bringing the bars that serve them to equal justice. Every liable party for your injuries must take responsibility for their negligence. We have a successful track record as litigants on our injured clients' behalf. And because of this, once your opponents know we're on the case, the insurance companies who represent the defendants often offer our clients sizable, and fair, damage settlements because they do not want us to take your case to court.

So if you or someone in your family is suffering as a victim of a drunk driving accident, contact Galveston drunk driving accident attorney Michael Grossman now at 1-855-392-0000 (toll free). Grossman Law Offices can help you seek compensation so that you can resume your life and help you seek justice and the peace of mind you deserve after a drunk driver has caused you harm or loss.